Hurricane, Beavers and Woodbine Fiber Festival

 I took this photo the day before the rains started. Gorgeous colors of autumn that are now gone.

 Since most of my shows are now art shows, I am trying to make more finished items. The scarf above used 28 yards of my supercoils and I added two copper accents to create a closure.

 The Woodbine Fiber Festival was mall this year since the storm was coming in the next day and everyone was busy preparing for it. Those who came had fun and, as always new friends were made. I actually sent some of my fleeces home with Heather of Sweitzer's Mill, PA, to have them spun into lace weight yarn suitable for the Green Crochet Shawl.

 Last week we discovered that a beaver had dug a channel in our pond and created himself a lodge at the north end. He is very industrious, but we are managing to keep the water flowing - Marc is going out twice a day to uncover the manhole that allows the water to flow south. His lodge is the pile of cattails and wood just to the left of the tree trunk.

 I actually spotted the beaver checking his perimeter during the storm. The two pictures above were taken during the height of the storm, so I was really glad that they kind of turned out.

All of the animals went into the barn on Monday morning. The wind was coming in horizontal, so their shelters were not working out. I managed to get all 100 of them in. If it does not rain today, I will slowly start moving them out. The areas where the goats usually hang out is still too wet to let them out.

I head to the Oaks, PA, Sugarloaf tomorrow. I plan to leave later than originally planned in hopes that the road cleanup will have been finished. Don't know that many people will come out, but I have committed to doing the show.

I have scheduled a art yarn classes and nuno felting since they have been the most requested:

Art Yarn Class: November 8, 2012 11-4 as well as Dec 13, 2012 10-3


Nuno Felting: Nov 10, 2012 10-1

Drop Spindling Set your own date.

Evening classes available upon request.

Merino Lambs and Gaithersburg Show

I have been waiting for Sweet Pea to deliver. She was terrific. She popped out Snow Pea, a white ram, and very quickly thereafter popped out Cow Pea, a black and white ewe. Both babies are dry and drinking off mom. I have a black ewe that should deliver within the next few weeks. She will probably have a single. It is exciting to have babies for the Woodbine Fiber Festival next Saturday. I did not realize that Merinos bred out of season till Terry Mendenhall told me that this spring.

The Gaithersburg show was really slow on Friday and Saturday and the beginning of Sunday. Towards the end of the show I taught someone how to drop spindle and sold a lot of yarn. It was exciting and I hope to see some familiar faces when I go back next November. I am actually knitting up a few scarves and headbands.

My daughter Kristie is visiting with her husband. When they leave tomorrow afternoon, I will have to get serious about spinning and tieing up my loom. The festival is next Saturday and I need to work in the barn in case it rains. There will be a place to hang out and spin, if anyone is interested. The shearer has told me that she needs to finish about 2 p.m. since she is giving a presentation for the Maryland Sheep Breeders Group and needs to go home and change. So, if you want to see shearing, aim for earlier rather than later. Marc and I will be going to the presentation.

Carroll County Maryland Fall Home Show

Another show has come and gone. The attendance at the Carroll County Home Show was pitiful, so I had a chance to meet with the other vendors - a really nice group. I had time to knit several inches on my latest project. I am writing a pattern for a tunic and knitting it with a Rambouillet and llama blend.

Marc and I did the Famancha eyelid check again on Friday. We got through it in 45 minutes and only found 6 angora goats that needed to be retreated. Progress!

All of my earnings from the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival went into an invisible fence to keep Left and Right in. They have not escaped yet, so I guess they have it figured out.

I am back to watching for lambs to pop. One of my Merino moorits is due any day. A black one is due within the month. I still have to name them!  It  is nice to have babies at different times of the year. I might have lambs to pet at my Woodbine Fiber Festival.

The angora goats have been separated for breeding and all of the males that I am saving are together on the hill next to the house. They are all getting along well right now.

On Thursday I will be setting up the the Montgomery Fairgrounds for the Gaithersburg Sugarloaf Show. It is an art show, so a much better venue for me. Hope some of you can make it out to visit with me!

Greater Baltimore Weavers' Guild

This is the time of year when I get really busy. If you look at my schedule, you will see that I have a lot of shows over the weekends between now and mid December. I am not going to set my shop up, if the shows are back to back - unless you call and say you are coming. I did the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival this past weekend and sold most of my freeform yarns, so I will be working on new ones starting Wednesday.

Tomorrow evening I will be giving a presentation to the Greater Baltimore Weavers' Guild on Fiber Connections: Art and Science. I will be talking about how I got the nerve to call myself an artist. I designed two shawls to illustrate some of my points. I used funky yarns in both and elastic yarn in one of them. The photo above shows what happened when I took it off the loom. The ripples are a natural result of the elastic yarn. I never waste - so the piece above was woven to finish the warp. I will be dyeing it at the meeting.

This is one of the finished shawls. I used a variety of white fibers - all whites are not the same color. This piece includes Rambouillet, Suri alpaca, kid mohair, Merino, and tencel. The shawls will be available for sale after the November Textile Museum presentation.