4th Avenue Street Fair

The 4th Avenue Street Fair starts tomorrow. My friend, Donna, went down and helped me set up my booth. It needs a little fine tuning, but otherwise looks really good. If anyone is not busy tomorrow afternoon and would like to come to the street fair to help cover the booth and pass out flyers, please call my cell 401-6117. A week ago Tuesday, Columbian had triplets. In keeping with my fiber theme , they were named: Laceweight, Sport Weight and Worsted Weight. Laceweight was curled up on top of her mother this morning, but those pictures are still on my phone. Since Columbian is pretty calm, the lambs are easier to catch - especially Laceweight. I was really worried about her at first because she was so tiny.

My Grandmother's Irises have bloomed again. They are very hardy. I have been hauling them around for 16 years now and they have survived everywhere.

I took a photo of my stepmother while we were sorting some of my Dad's paperwork. Last week I worked from 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. on clearing out papers. He kept it all - papers from 1930 to now, every receipt, all of his taxes, and pretty much every card that he received over the years, as well as printed copies of emails. I have kept what looks like history and trashed the rest. It was unbelievable and totally overwhelming. If you are hoarding paperwork, do your heirs a favor and get rid of the non essentials. You have to pay extra to get it hauled off, so why not keep it moving out? Do you really want them to be reading every single piece of correspondence that you leave behind? There was so much of it, that you can rest assured that I only looked to see who wrote it - kept it for my sisters and brothers, if it had writing and was not just a card with a signature - and threw out all of the rest. Having priced the hauler fees, this is some pretty pricey trash!

The spring shearing festival is next Saturday. Fortunately, I did all of the advertising before flying to my Dad's, because I am now too beat to do it. The Arizona Daily Star called today to confirm their information, but I don't expect an article this year. Hopefully, all of you are passing the word along.

Marc wants me to remind everyone to watch out for rattlesnakes. This morning there was one was under my orange tree outside the shop - Charcoal was sitting within striking distance checking it out. Then this evening, the dogs started barking and would not stop. Another, larger rattlesnake was in their area in the back yard. They had obviously made it mad because it was rattling. I did not see any bite marks, so I won't know, if they got bit till something swells up. Two snakes in one day is a bit much!

Tucson Spring Shearing Festival Raffle

The Freeform Spinners wove this rug from my handspun last year during the fall festival. We are raffling it off at the Tucson Spring Shearing Festival with all of the proceeds going to benefit the Casa Maria Kitchen. This is a 21 by 42 inch rug (not counting the fringe) that will be perfect for a kitchen or bathroom. You can purchase raffle tickets in advance by sending a Paypal payment to my email address: jmarckathy@aol.com. Be sure to include your name and tel or email address on the payment, so I know who to credit. The tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. It has a value of $450.

I discovered very large and long knitting needles at Stitches West. I knitted this piece with the idea of a southwestern landscape in mind. I began with the taupe for the desert sand, reddish brown for the mountains at sunset, and then the pink and blue shifting to just blue for the sky. Everyone always looks at the spectacular view on the sun side of the sunset. If you turn 180 around, the sky is shades of pink and blue and the mountains take on a color of their own.

I used up quite a bit of not next to the skin yarn to knit this piece. Marc says it is not economical, because it used over $480 worth of yarn. All things considered, I found the process to be very soothing and a distraction while dealing with my father's death. I plan to make another that will be wider and longer. The one I just finished is designed to be a wall hanging. My next one will be either a larger rug or lap blanket. I will use a greener part of the country as my inspiration, since it will involve a totally different colorway.

I have not decided whether I will add surface embellishment with art yarns.

Cycle of Life

My Dad passed yesterday morning. We are all sad, but relieved. The doctors wanted to play God, which made the process more difficult, but we were able to preserve my Dad's wishes. I wish to thank those who emailed or contacted me in some way. Your words meant a great deal and reminded me that we do not go through life alone.

Above is a reaffirmation that life will go on. My Merino ewe delivered a healthy ewe lamb this morning and all seems to be going well. I am using a fiber art theme and hope to have her named by this evening. Notice her long tail. It will be docked in a few days when she gets her first shots.

Unexpected Realities/Tucson Spring Shearing Festival

In half hour I am leaving for Las Vegas to take my Dad off life support. He has a triple by pass surgery almost 2 weeks ago and it did not go well. He chose me to be his representative, so it falls to me to do as he wished. I don't normally throw my life issues out for public review, but thought I would share where all of my energies have gone the last two weeks. I was out in Las Vegas last week and my dad had lost his will to fight. He is over 80 years old and I feel like he has a full life, so I have no regrets. He would have liked to live to 100 (wouldn't we all?), but it is not meant to be. Dealing with life or death issues with animals over the past 8 years has taught me that I am not God and that we need to be willing to let go.
My mind has been all over the place and so have my colors. I did get one supercoil listed on etsy.

Amongst death, there is the celebration of life. I have 8 black kids on the ground now and the reds will start delivering any time. I hate to leave it to Marc to deal with, but he has been getting lots of practice, so he will be fine. See, I am learning to trust that other people can handle it.

Ruby had twins last Friday late - which is unusual. I was expecting it, so I did go back out to check one last time. The second born was a doe and she took right to her. Since the buck did not get up since he was chilled and a butt first baby, she rejected him. I have held her so the buck could drink (he was one of the ones that I had to put on a heating pad before he would suck), but Ruby is really fighting him. I decided yesterday to get him on a bottle just in case he was not getting enough milk. He has become a bottle baby and is really friendly. He has great genes - black and silver with blue eyes. He is for sale, but don't call till after I get back - hopefully Monday. I check out all buyers to be sure there is a good fit. He will be less expensive, but not free or cheap.

Tucson Spring Shearing Festival 2011 in the 9th of April. If anyone is willing to help in any way - you don't even need to be a fiber person, please email me at jmarckathy@aol.com. People come and people go, and it seems like more have gone than come, so I am in need of volunteers. The festival has gotten too big for me to handle it by myself. A lot of the advertisement has gone out and I will try to finish next week, but from past experience, it is the word of mouth that has caused the festival to be so successful, so I am counting on you to pass on the word! Thanks!