New Rovings and a Grandbaby

 This month turned out to be really busy. I washed and carded mohair and wool the past 7 months and took it to the mill. The natural colored roving is already back and I am spinning batches to determine pricing. Some fibers are gorgeous when spun up and washed. I have learned over the years not to jump to conclusions about the quality until it has been washed.

 The above is a Merino Suri alpaca blend. It has a little vm, but it spins up beautifully. It is a great fiber to practise over dying. It is ecru, so has shades of pale yellow will tone down jewel tones.

I just got back from Nevada. My daughter had a a baby girl on August 14. She did a bathtub delivery and it was cool to see the baby pop up. I am glad that I was able to participate.

My next spin in here at the farm is September 4, 2016 from 1-4 p.m. All are welcome to attend, just shoot me an email to let me know; jmarckathy@aol.com.

Spring, New Designs and Art Yarn

 I am hoping that this will be our last snow for the year.

 I thought Rosemary, one of our dairy goats, was due March 17. Guess she did not get bred that time. She has the blank stare that a lot of the goats get right before delivery. Of course, she has had this look for a few weeks. She is now enormous. Last year we could not tell that she was pregnant and out popped a kid. Definitely twins this time around. Good thing I saved a lot of her milk from last year, because most of my sheep and goats have delivered already.

 Winter is a good time for designing. I started the sweater around Christmas and then decided that it needed a hat and cowl to go with it. I finished it just in time for spring, when I won't need it!

 I have been playing around with new yarns and this is what happened to my feathered yarn. The pattern is available as a digital download on my Etsy shop: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy.com. I have one yarn kit spun up and custom colors may be ordered.

 Spots has given me the cutest lambs so far, They are both ewes and have the modern style fleece. It will be very crimpy.

I have also been busy spinning. The above batch has already been sold, but I thought I would share what I have been doing. I have lots of yarns on Etsy, if you are interested.

Upcoming Shows: Carolina Fiber festival, Stitches South, Powhatan Fiber Fest, Maryland Sheep and wool Festival, and Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival.

Dyeing, Making hay,felting and last lambs of the year.

Just picked up a bunch of my fiber from the Sweitzer's Countryside Mill. I had her turn some of the mohair into yarn. I have been dyeing the skeins different colors. I got back seven pounds of the white and have been having a good time color combining. They are not going to be striping, since I am using my dyeing. The top two are skeins that I spun this week.

The farmer is cutting our hay now. He fluffed it today so it would dry. He plans to bale it tomorrow. We will be borrowing his elevator to get it into the hay loft. 

We have fenced off the front yard now and have put a sign on the front gate reminding visitors to close the gates behind them. I will only move the animals when I am not expecting deliveries. The doe above was shorter than the grass. I figure the extra pasture is about 7 days of feed, if all of the animals are on it. That is equivalent to 32 bales of hay. Of course, they can't be on it all of the time.

I have been teaching felting. So far, this is my favorite bowl. 

Blackie had her lambs last Sunday evening. The one with the white spot is an ewe, the other a ram. They are out of her, a Shetland, and a Moorit Merino ram, who was supposedly to young to breed. Lovely surprise. Baby season is over till September, when the Merinos will have their lambs.

Tucson Wool Festival Workshop and the Lap Rug

Karen Herhold will be teaching a nun felting workshop at the wool festival on October 17, 2009. Learn how to felt on silk in a quick workshop that will teach you the basics of felting. Cost is $25 and includes all supplies to make a hair bow,belt or skinny scarf. Questions? email jmarckathy@aol.com or call 520-572-3758.

This batch of roving started with the colors, I found buttons that matched, and then discovered that the way I was spinning the yarn lent itself to a landscape scarf. I plan to knit this one myself.
The buttons are a cowboy motif.
The greens reflect the colors of the mountains in spring and the sage brush. I had a lot of leftover roving and was planning to do a second skein using some wild animal buttons.
The carder called and I created roving that is reminiscent of an African Safari. I have to give Shannon Orr credit for the name. I was going for wild animals at the zoo.
Shannon is an angel in disguise. She showed up in response to my cry for help on weaving the lap rug for the wool festival raffle. Virginia did about 18 inches, I did another 18 and Shannon did the rest. It is now off the loom and I will weaving in the ends - no fringe this time! It is about 60 inches long, so we will be adding freeform pieces around each of the sides. Since it is in all natural colors, I knew the yarns would all work. I am always amazed at how well such a loosely organized project can turn out. About 12 of the Freeform Spinners of Tucson have had their hands in it - either spinning or learning to warp, tie on, thread or weave. It is going to be another work of art.

To see last year's freeform shawl, check out the Tucson Wool Festival page of my website: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com.
We wanted this to be an item that would appeal to both sexes. The Freeform Spinners are open for suggestions for a project for next year. We will start it at the wool festival next year, so it will be ready to raffle off next year. We are looking to do something different every year, so we can learn new techniques. Last year it was dyeing and spinning Shetland wool to create yarn strong enough for a warp. This year we played around with Rambouillet and Merino. All wool is not the same, as the spinners will tell you. Anyone interested in participating is welcome to jump in at any time. Some of the yarns used were drop spindled and the first yarns ever spun for some. In freeform, anything goes! We meet the first and third Saturdays of the month here at the ranch.

Coiled yarn

Lest you think I do nothing but wait for babies to be born, I thought I would post the yarn that I finished this morning. It is a lovely, subtly shaded, blue coiled yarn with 57 yards that I have priced at $21. It is a blend of soft mohair and wool plied over a perle cotton thread. I took the photo outside in the sun and I don't think the color shows as well as it could.

Of course, I am waiting on Hazelnut to deliver today. She is standing around like Columbian was yesterday, so I am running out hour to check. No danger of babies freezing today in this heat, although the wind has picked up!