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!

Snow in Tucson!

We woke up to snow this morning. Very cool. Of course, we had to get up early to see it, since it is already melting. It is the first time that it has snowed here at the ranch in the 11 years that we have lived here.

The goats started walking gingerly towards the feeder when they saw me. They always eat a lot more when it is cold. Most of the animals stayed dry. The alpacas and llamas did not care.

Stitches West and All About Babies

I am back from Stitches West. It is always good to get away and see what other people are doing. This turned out to be an inspirational trip, because I came back with ideas for using up older mohair. I will tell all in my next post. The show was overwhelming in that there were hundreds of vendors and loads of yarn. There was not a lot of temptation for me, since I spin my own yarn. The space dyed yarn in most booths did not have prices on them, so I could not judge where I fit among them. I did not see any handspun, but then there was so much stuff, that it would have been hard to pick out.

My felted landscapes drew the most attention and helped sell a lot of roving, batts, and mohair locks. My coiled yarns and freeform yarns sold well, but nowhere near as well as they did here in Arizona. Blues were the most popular colors. I will have to write the pattern for my southwestern vest, since I kept getting asked for it. I also plan to put together kits for my layered collar pattern, since people were looking for a batch of yarn specifically for it.

While I was off having fun, things at the ranch kept moving along. I managed to get a great photo of Spindle, so her color can be seen. She is loving the attention of all of the visitors.

Amber went into ketosis, so I had to talk Marc through setting up an IV with Dextrose for her. Fortunately she delivered the next day (I think we might have given her too much!) Two lovely twins - a buck, Flyer, and a doe, Maiden. Above is a photo of Flyer drinking from Amber. She was too lazy to get up and he decided that her teat was just right where it was.

Willow waited till Tuesday morning to have her kids, so I got to dry her babies. I am holding Treadle, a doe. Her brother is named Double. Double and Treadle. Get it?

Dark Chocolate's buck, Star, is out with his mom now. He was the first born and he is really friendly. If you stay still, he will come nibble on your pants.

My intern, Caitlin, has only a few more days here at the ranch. She has fallen in love with the unpredictable lifestyle and says that the babies are the most fun. Star is by far her favorite.

First kid, patterns and Stitches West

Dark Chocolate delivered prematurely. Only one of the triplets survived - a buck. He is healthy, but very quiet.

In preparation for Stitches West, I have been sorting and printing patterns. I decided to write out the pattern for my Southwestern Shetland shawl. It took quite a while, since I included extra photos and a stitch chart for the lace section. It is definitely not for a beginner! Thanksgiving was quite interested.

I will be packing up the shop this afternoon and heading out tomorrow morning for California. I am slightly depressed, since there is rain in the forecast for the whole trip. I suffer from the SAD syndrome, so it is going to be tough. I have been reminded that it is an indoor show and that people in other parts of the country do not hibernate when it rains like Arizonans do.

Caitlin, my intern, will be covering what remains in the shop and watching out for the animals. I don't expect any to deliver while I am gone.

Thanksgiving is becoming a little bit of a brat, since she has been put out with the other llamas and alpaca. Sibling rivalry happens even among the animals.

As I was giving an animal tour yesterday afternoon, I noticed that Amber's teats are filling. Her baby is hanging pretty low. I checked my blog and realized that I could have kids as early as this weekend, since I had the coyote issue. I am glad that the weather will be nicer by then.

This is Catlin's pin weaving. It was the back side and I think it has more color and texture than the front. She is probably going to turn it into a small bag.

I took a trip to the Gem and Mineral show along I-10 this past Sunday. I came home with some new ideas and a few different type of beads.

A trip to the Doubletree Inn on the east side netted me these beads.

All of these were spun in the last week and a half. I finished the angora rabbit and need to send it off.

This is a closeup of the center skein. I am doing a series of freeform yarns in these colors. This is the middle range color. I am working on a darker set. Below is the lighter set. I can't which I like better!

After the wool festival, a lot of people told me to pass on thanks to the guy directing traffic using the bike. He looked pretty scruffy, so I thought you would like to know that he does clean up well. I rarely see him dressed for work, since he leaves before I get up. This is Marc, my husband, and I call the look - The Secret Agent Man.