Charging Beaver

 Something must have happened (probably babies) because our beaver is now angry and guarding the grate that allows the water to flow from our pond here in Woodbine, MD, into the stream below. We would not bother to clean the grate, if we did not know that it would flood the lower pasture and kill the trees along the pond. Beavers are nocturnal, but this one has been out since this morning and Marc found him out there again at noon.

 I told Marc to drop the pitchfork when the beaver came chasing us. Marc was afraid that he would chew the fork up, but he left it when we backed up.

 Above is Marc trying to keep the beaver from following us. I took some absolutely awesome videos of him charging us, but our bandwidth is not good enough for me to upload them.

 This picture and the one of the geese below were taken in between the excitement of the charging beaver. I loved the play of the ripples of water as the animals moved and the reflection of the tree in the water.

First Kid of Season is not an Angora

 Rosemary surprised us with her kid on Saturday afternoon. According to the breeder, she was not due till the first week in March. I have Parsley down in the barn with her mom, now that she associates milk with me and a bottle. Rosemary is three years old and never had a baby suck off her, so she did not let the baby nurse. I am glad, since I wanted a dairy goat to provide milk for angora goat babies that fail to thrive. Now I just need to get my stiff fingers to loosen up! Marc is a much better milker than I am.

 Everyone has suggested that I get brooches to complete my collars and scarves. I found a lot of vintage ones two weeks ago and I am starting to design to fit the brooches. I have another larger daisy brooch that is crying out for a scarf. I might start selling the pins, if I find there is enough interest.

 The skein of yarn above and below are the same skein. I have just wrapped them differently. I tried different pins for color. Since it is yarn, I won't permanently place the brooches, because it limits their use. There are a lot of knitters and crocheters out there who like to use the yarns as embellishment.

I am busy spinning beaded yarns over shades of green right now as part of my Fields of Green series.

Starting the first week in March, I will be available for farm visits. Call 410-795-6070 or email jmarckathy@aol.com for an appointment. I will be publishing a class schedule that starts then. Hopefully it will be warm enough to do wet felting. Call to schedule your own class or contact me, if you are interested in a trunk show at your location.

Colors, Spinning and Wall Hanging

 I started this wall hanging/possible rug last year while in Tucson. I am using a size 35 needle and 12 strands of yarn to knit . As you can see, the colors are variegated and no two skeins of yarn are alike. In order to create an abstract look, I have been spinning up all of the fibers that do not feel good against the skin. (I do sell the needles - so email to order.) This is my second wall hang and to give you an idea of its size - it weighs over 5 pounds currently and is 45 inches wide and I have knitted 42 inches. My goal is to reach 60 inches in length. It is nice and thick, so it will make a nice rug. If I embellish the way I plan to, it will have to be a lap rug or a wall hanging. It is keeping me warm!

 I am almost out of the blues for the sky, so I ran down to the bank barn and carded up two batts and stole some batts out of the shop that are beginning to look ratty. I am going to start spinning them this afternoon once I get the moorit llama cria off the wheel. Can't run out of yarn! I want to finish this by next week.

I have been busy spinning since the Chantilly show. The natural colored skeins at the left are singles, two plies, thick and thins and coiled. The colored ones show that I am shifting to spring colors. Panetone has a page where they show the spring and summer colors for 2013. The fall colors are out and I can't wait to start working with those. I do not try to match the colors because you want accessories to complement and at the same time pop the basis colors. After spending all the time making something, I want it to be noticed!