Around the Farm and New Colorways

 This week the angora goats and Shetland/Merino Crosses are mowing the front yard. Next week they will move to the lower garage pasture. I hope to keep them parasite free by moving them to taller pastures frequently.

 A close up of one of the moms with her kid. It was a pain to have all of the animals in the barn  over the winter for delivery, but it paid off. All of the kids and lambs are much healthier this year. They have well formed horns, lovely fleeces and are much larger than they have been since we moved to Maryland.

 We had a fox in the newest pasture, so I hung out with the goats while they browsed. The alpacas decided to join us. You can see how tall the grass and other plants are. Five of the goats were so happy, that they refused to return when everyone else did. The above photo is of one of the streams running through our property. We have a nice soothing waterfall just above where I took this photo.

 I am listing lots of roving on Etsy. This is a different color than the previously listed fuchsia orange mohair. You have to read the specifics to know the fiber content. This one is a blend of kid mohair and Merino.

 This is a batch of wool and mohair that I just took to the mill. I carded and spun some up and really liked the combination. The Merino Shetland cross was white, gray and had white tips. I dyed it along with a white kid mohair. Can't do without my mohair. The sheen takes yarn to a new level.

 I am experimenting with a tutorial on spinning gradient yarns and how to use them. I will be publishing a pattern called Watermelon Shawl as soon as I finishing proofing it.

I still have a few Shetlands for sale. They are purebred, but I will not be selling them with papers. They are intended to be a spinning flock. They are all of the more modern style with very soft fleeces and lots of crimp. I also have two East Fresian dairy sheep for sale. Not enough time to make cheese. Email me at jmarckathy@aol.com  

I will be teaching my Spinning Freeform Yarns class on June 20. This will be the only time I offer it this summer. I teach how to spin a novelty yarn with loads of texture in it without tying knots in one skein of yarn. They are my best selling yarns. Anyone, who can spin a decent (not perfect) single, will enjoy this class.  

Yarn Styles

 I have been busy spinning feathered yarns and the singles to go with them in preparation for upcoming shows. I will be packing my shop up tomorrow and heading out to Sanford, NC, for their annual fiber festival. I am indoors this year, so weather will not be an issue.

 I have added a few freeform yarns to my inventory. They will all be new to NC since all of the ones I had before are long gone.

 Some of my favorite yarns are the beaded ones. This yarn is closer to black than the charcoal that you see here.

 One of my most recent lambs' tails.

 I am trying to list more rovings on my etsy shop: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy.com.

I spun two elastic yarns from the roving above. Both are slightly differently colored since the roving is variegated.

                                    
I raise my own fiber and my yarns would not be so unique without the animals. i love blending the different types together to get texture. This ram was huge and is a Merino Shetland cross. I just sheared one of the Shetland Merino crosses and the fleeces are gorgeous. Not quiet as fine as the Merino by itself, but awesome since it does not have to be spun up lace weight, which is what my pure Merinos seem to want to do.

My farm shop will be closed till the first week in June. You can find me at shows or through etsy. All of my most recent yarns are there as well as quite a few rovings and most of my patterns. Enjoy browsing!

Spinning a Feathered Yarn

 Until I decided to actually sit down and spin my chickens' feathers, I never realized exactly how many different types of feather a single chicken had. I raise Black Sussex chickens because they are cold hardy, produce an above average number of eggs and excellent foragers. I allow them to free range during the day and close them in the coop at night to protect them from predators.

My goal was to produce a soft yarn that had feathers dangling from it. My first attempts involved several different ways of wrapping the feathers into the yarn using a core thread as well as threading the feathers on a thread. The wrapping method caused the feathers to be wrapped unevenly and parallel to the yarn. The threaded feathers kept splitting where the needle had gone through the feather. Neither method worked for me since, besides not hanging the way I wanted, they looked sloppy and I did not feel that they were anchored securely.

I then came across some jewelry crimps with a hole in the top. I could crimp the feather inside the metal and thread each of the feathers onto a core thread and then place the feathers as I spun. I selected some of the softest feathers which were 3-4 inches in length.

I found a roving in my stash that coordinated with the feathers: a blend of alpaca and kid mohair in natural colors.

Spinning the yarn was a challenge, since the feathers were wispy and periodically got hung up in the holes.

When I wound the yarn off into a skein, I got some interesting effects. I made sure that I put enough twist in that the weight of the feathers would not cause the core thread to hang outside the yarn.

 Different lighting cause the feathers and yarn to look much lighter in color.

 Above is the yarn before I set the twist.

 The twist has been set and the yarn is now balanced.

A close up of the feathers attached to the yarn. My next challenge is to knit/weave or crochet it up into wearable art. I have spun a single to give me enough yardage.

Things to consider when spinning feathered yarns:

Commercial feathers available in craft stores are not the same as natural chicken/bird feathers. You have to read the fine print on the packaging to be sure that they are not dyed and that they can be washed. You have to be able to set the twist as well as remove the oils that your handling the fibers leave on your yarn. My test skein was washed and the feathers looked sickly until it dried and they fluffed back to the original state.

Some feathers are going to be too small to be held by the crimp and others will need a much larger crimp to be held in place. I used 6mm crimps for this skein.

Crimps come in several different colors. Be sure to pick one that coordinates with your feathers and yarn or the whole skein will look off. Art can very quickly become craft and crass when colors don't work together.

Let me know what you think! I have already come up with a few other ways to spin feathers, but I will save them for my freeform art yarn class.

Busy Month

 This is my booth shot for the Stitches Midwest. I sold some of everything, so I had to come home and start spinning, washing and dyeing.

 Spinquest in Front Royal, Virginia, was a much smaller show, but more exciting because these ladies are my peers. They are interested in art yarns, luxurious fibers and mohair!

 I have been spinning a lot of solids and dyeing some. This coiled yarn has a matching single. Lots of yardage in Kid Mohair/Merino lamb. I am currently spinning kid mohair with alpaca, Maryland's first fleece.

 When at Stitches Midwest. I got hooked on making knitted and then felted hats. This is a long hat out of older mohair and wool. It fuzzed up beautifully and is definitely a guy's kind of hat. Every fiber felts differently. I have made two other hats and all of their patterns will be published before the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival at the end of this month.

 At Spinquest, we were given photos and challenged to spin a yarn reflecting something in the photo. Can't publish the photo since I don't know where it came from, but it had a lovely head of a comic book child with flowing blonde, orange and coral shades. I did not have my usual beads, etc. to add to it, but it turned out really well. I was curious to see what it would look like knit up, since I spun part of it with an elastic thread to show someone how to core spin over elastic. I lock spun over it. The very center of the scarf in the photo above shows that it looks like normal yarn but it will stretch.

 Another view of the scarf. The beauty of the changing colors is that it looks like a totally different scarf when another section is in front.

The kid goats wearing the onsies have been shorn this past week. They are so cute. A shearer came today and it did not work out. A kid doe lost a teat, so she will not be good for breeding and it just took way too long. So, looking for a good shearer - while Marc, my intern and I are shearing kids. Need someone to do adult does and Merinos.

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!

Collars, Chantilly and a Frozen Pond

 With the wind howling, a desire to keep my neck warm was the inspiration for a group of felted and knitted collars. The felted ones are fairly quick, but I enjoyed knitting up some of my own yarns. Usually I am so busy spinning to keep the pegs filled that I miss getting to design.
This scarf used 100 yards of fingering weight yarn and 2 yards of a thick and thin crocheted in a random manner as an embellishment.

 I was at the Dulles Expo Center for the Chantilly Sugarloaf show. Gives you an idea of my current colors.

The weather here is definitely winter. I walked the farm this morning to check on the beaver activity. The pond is frozen and animals have been walking across is. Another tree is down, but the grate was clear. It is dreary, so a good day to spend indoors. I decided to have Marc help me unload the truck when he gets home tonight. Don't want to slip and fall on the ice while hauling heavy racks!

Spinning Yarns and Gardening

I am bouncing all around in my color and fiber selections right now. The coiled one is going on my eshop, while the rest will go in the physical shop here in Woodbine, Maryland. I am alternating between listing on my own shop: http://www.uniquedesignsbykathyshop.com and my etsy shop: http://www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy.com.

I am not sure whether you can tell what is growing in Watusi's pasture, but it is ragweed. The goats, sheep and alpacas had all been eating around it. My neighbor finally informed me the other day that it is ragweed. Sure enough, I did an Internet search, so I could be sure, and then I was out there mowing it down. It really needs to be tilled under, but then I would not have the grass and other "weeds" that Watusi has been eating. It pulls up fairly easy, so I am weeding a little each time I go out.

This is my real garden. The sunflowers are over 5 feet tall. They tower above me now. My beans, cucumbers and tomatoes are growing in their shade and twining around their stalks -instant trellis. Where the wooden pegs are in the rear of the picture is the last bed that Marc helped me dig. I have peppers, stevia, catnip and corn with a few more sunflowers in that bed.

This is my first cucumber. I have not harvested it yet, since it is so small!

I have some really great neighbors, who started their gardens while I was moving in and doing kid and lamb deliveries. They have been keeping me supplied with different types of squash, peppers, zucchini. Ruth gave me basil and tomato plants. I cut 2.6 pounds of basil off and stripped the leaves this weekend. I dried a quart and used the rest to make and freeze pesto sauce. In two weeks, I will be cutting a bunch more. Gardening is occupying almost as much time as gardening. I am almost ready for chickens. Marc mentioned them when he got back from Tucson last week. Guess he misses them also. We need to figure out where we want to put them, since we don't want to lose them to the dogs.

Shear Perfection

Shearing is now done until October 27, when all of the angora goats and some ram lambs will be shorn.

Thanksgiving is getting her hair cut by Nathan Good of Shear Perfection. He did a superb job. No stress for the animals or for me (most important!) While shearing Maryland, the cria born May 5th, he mention that "he" had a lovely fleece. Based on how he squatted to pee and no obvious testicles, I thought I had a girl. I do not breed with the intentions of papering my alpacas, so I will keep him, if I don't find a buyer. His fleece is as lovely as Thanksgiving's so with plenty of pasture, I am not under pressure.

Nathan was also willing to grind down teeth, so Jennifer went to the dentist without leaving home!

Marc held Winter, Maryland's mom, so she would know where her baby was. I think of the alpacas as large animals, but they are not once shorn and especially being held by Marc!

I am still doing lots of freeform - between spinning, washing fleeces and gardening. I am also checking out the various knitting and spinning groups in the area. So far, the spinning group associated with the Baltimore Weaver's guild has my vote. I plan to check out the Columbia Sip and Knit group that meets next Tuesday at the King's mall.

I have signed up to be a vendor at Spin Quest on August 25th. You can find more information by going to Spin Artiste's website and Ravelry pages.