First angora goat kids of the year are lovely black and red bucks out of 394. It is easier to remember some of the goats by their numbers and this mom is one of those. She did a great job. Both babies are already up and drinking, but I will verify that a few more times.

I have a few more who could deliver today. So hard to predict since I have a lot of drama queens!

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!

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!

A New Year

 On Christmas Eve we had our first snowfall for the winter. It was lovely and I took lots of photos. This was probably the loveliest. It might be the centerpiece for a Christmas Card next year.

 New years often bring new new ideas. I have discovered over the past few shows that my yarns are selling as infinity scarves because there are not as many knitters that go shopping at art shows. Now I am spinning most of the skeins between 24 and 32 yards because they seem to be the right size to be worn wrapped around the neck. They are also long enough for a knitter to make my boa scarf.

I photographed this one differently, so you can see options for wearing the yarn. I have listed several on both my eshop and my etsy shop. I am also planning to knit several boa scarves because I have been selling my sample at each show.

Happy New Year and may your days be creative!

Farm Walkabout

 Last Week I started getting cabin fever, so I took a walk around the farm. My first stop was the manhole cover that the beaver keeps covering. I cleaned that off and walked down the stream to check out our water fall. With the water flowing again, the stream was roaring. Now that the leaves have fallen, you can actually see it. Not as pretty!

 I suspect that there is more than one beaver. This is all that remains of one of the trees. Three trees are down and two more are being worked on.

 Since it has gotten cold, the animals are eating between 7 and 8 bales of hay a day. If we run out, I am going to buy pellets. Amazing how much of a mess they can make! The colored goats are looking more pregnant than the white goats. Based on size and the fact that they are not due for another two months, I am predicting a lot of the older ones are going to have twins.

The chickens know how to fly out of the coop now. They come up to the side door because they recognize it as the one that we come out. The Fedex guy is now watching for them as he drives up. I counted 10 out this afternoon. They can fly back in, if they want, but they usually wait to follow me in with their feed.

My son and daughter are both coming for Christmas. Kyle is going to love the wildlife. Kristie calls the farm a story book picture.

Merry Christmas! Might not write again till the new year unless something super exciting happens!