Waiting on spring…..still

I’ve been working on a lot of the same things lately.  Making more dryer balls, felting more soap, knitting more wrist warmers, crocheting more flowers for hat pins.  Not much that you haven’t already seen.  So I haven’t taken any pictures.

I went to Shepherd’s Harvest and it was fabulous.  I had a great time, met lots of old friends, made new friends, and talked a LOT!   It was wonderful.  But I didn’t take a single photo – so nothing to show you. 

I’ve started the Becker Farmer’s Market on Fridays from 3 – 6 PM.  The weather has not been very friendly, and traffic has been a bit slow.  There is not much to photograph – so again, nothing to show you. 

But yesterday, I helped Darryl finish the fence around our veggie garden.

The main garden

We now have a permanent fence of chicken netting.  Before we only had the nylon deer netting around the garden. 

Inside the main area

Several rows of plants are already up, but the bad weather and rain had prevented us from working on the fence. 

Peas in the side area

 The netting did work pretty well to keep the deer out, but raccoons would tear it to shreds and the old stuff was in rough shape.   We are hoping this will last a long time.  

And since we are talking gardening….

Phaleanopsis

…how about this beauty?  The buds were just setting last fall when I brought it in and it didn’t grow a bit most of the winter.  Slowly as it got more light this spring, the buds started swelling and today, May 28, it looks like this!  I believe this is an orchid Darryl got for me in the spring of 2011.   This is the first time to re-bloom.

Dyeing, drying, winding, felting, knitting…..

It is crunch time!  Down to the last few days before Shepherd’s Harvest.  I’ll leave Friday morning to set up my booth.  I’ll stay near by and be at the festival Saturday and Sunday.  At the end, I’ll pack up my booth and come back Sunday night.  A lot of work, but one of my favorite weekends of the year.  I so look forward to seeing old friends, meeting new friends and absorbing all things fiber! 

On Monday I dyed yarn.  I had 8 skeins of lace weight.

Lace weight

Here is the lace, just out of the dye pots.

Lace in skeins

Each skein is 4 ounces of 100% alpaca lace weight, about 600 yards, $20.

Bulky yarn

The above are my 4 skeins of bulky, still wet.

Bulky in skeins

This is 100% alpaca, bulky weight, 6 oz skeins, $27 each.

Sport weight yarn

And this is the sport weight yarn I dyed.  It was so heavy, I had to add a brace to my fancy drying rod! 

Sport weight skeins

I have 16 new skeins of sport weight yarn – 100% alpaca, 6 oz, $27.

I just have to get labels on this yarn and it will be ready to be packed for the festival.   I want to get one more batch of 10 dryer balls felted today.  And I got a surprise delivery of black yarn for wrist warmers. So I hope to get a few knit.  

I hope to see you all at Shepherd’s Harvest!  It is such a fun weekend. Bring your Mom!  She’s sure to find the perfect Mother’s Day gift for you to buy her! 

 

I’m back and ready to catch up

Shepherd’s Harvest was wonderful!  Perfect weather.  Lots of fiber-loving friends, both old and new.  It was great to re-aquaint with those I only see a few times a year.  And making new fibery friends is such great fun.  A special ‘thank-you’ to all my customers.  I appreciate more than words can say! 

Again, my booth was next to the booth of Twisted Suri Alpaca Ranch, so we could cover for each other when it got busy or we needed a break.

Mostly my side

Most of my things were on this side.

Center of booths

 We met in the middle.

Their side

And most of this things on this end were from Twisted Suri.

Rug space

And the rugs had their space together on the rug rack.  We have a pretty good system worked out for sharing our space.  It works for us. 

Since then I’ve returned some product to the Anoka Fiber Arts Co-op in the loft at Shepherd’s Choice in Anoka and spent a day working there.  Stop by to see the new things.

And today, I received 15 bags of super soft white fiber from Kinney Valley Alpacas.

Just waiting to become yarn

This will be sorted and cleaned as soon as I get a chance!  Then it will go to be spun into more yarn!  My yarn was a big hit at Shepherd’s Harvest and I’m anxious to more yarn to dye!

 

The Packing Challenge

I’ve been staging things to go to Shepherd’s Harvest for the last couple weeks.  But yesterday, I had to get serious and try to fit it all into our car. 

Product

I have 5 tote bins – the clear one in front is just yarn! The others have hats, mittens, socks, shawls and lots of other alpaca goodies for sale. The box in back has my rugs and place mats/stadium seats.  

Fleeces

I have 7 fleeces and 2 bags of roving, a box of felting kits, and a small tote bin of wrist warmers.

Display racks

 I’m also bringing my garment rack and my yarn rack.  Fortunately, these come apart.  By last night, all this was stuffed into the car!  With the front passenger seat reserved for my suitcase, backpack, knitting project bag and one rack I forgot about yesterday. 

Thanks to Twisted Suri Alpaca Ranch for bringing the grid-wall and tables for both our booths! 

Baby news – nothing yet, but my husband could experience his first alpaca birth without me this weekend.

Getting ready

The yarn I dyed is dry and rewound, labeled and priced.

Lace yarn

 

 

Sport weight

And 5 skeins of sport weight – 6 ounces, 100% alpaca, $27 each.  All will be going to Shepherd’s Harvest this weekend, along with all the other yarn and alpaca products I will have in my booth there.

A little baby news:  I thought Georgie was in labor this morning, but she proved me wrong.  I think both she and Spotsie are pretty close. They are over 11 months along and I may miss the births while away this weekend.

More, more, more

I have more hats finished.  I finished knitting and seaming these last night.

Before felting

 

The first on the left is made using up the remaining yarn scraps.  The other 2 are made of one strand of yarn I dyed with a strand of undyed yarn.  All 3 are 100% alpaca.

After felting

Just a few minutes in the washing machine with hot water and detergent and ‘viola’! Three more felted hats are drying.  I left the scrap ends on the outside of the first and am not going to trim them on this one like I did on the first hat.  I’m curious to see which is preferred by customers!   

And here are the new soap scents I finished this week.

Four new soap scents

I felted 10 each of Lemon Bar, Patchouli, Rainkissed Leaves, and Vanilla.  They are available in my online store. 

The hats, soap and all my products will be at Shepherd’s Harvest!  Are you making plans to be there, too?   I’m looking forward to another awesome fun weekend.

Shearing Day 2012

Last Saturday (4/28) was cold and spitting rain, but we were scheduled to shear and so we did.  

Here's Rolly

This is Rolly waiting for the shearing to start.

In progress

His fiber is rolling off as it is sheared into my waiting hands.

One side done

This is one half of the fleece on the skirting table for a little skirting.  Then I’ll bag them up for more thorough skirting and they’ll be ready for sale at Shepherd’s Harvest.

Another fleece

This is half of Vagabond’s fleece.  Lovely fawn color and still soft for an ‘old guy’. 

Another done

I think this is Carley sporting her new look. 

Georgie - before

Georgie was the last to be sheared.  Here she is waiting inside the closed pen all by herself as the others have been shorn and allowed to go in and outside.

Free at last

And now Georgie is done too and ready to join the others. 

It is always great to have the shearing done each year.  I love getting the big bundles of warm fiber off each alpaca, skirting it a little and bagging it for later.  Thanks to my helpers and my shearer – you guys and gals are awesome.  My fleeces will be for sale at Shepherd’s Harvest on May 12 – 13.  If you like fiber, you will not want to miss it.  Who’s going to Shepherd’s Harvest?

Rollin’ along

Remember those 3 red balls of yarn?

Mittens

Now, 3 pair of red mittens.  Still need sewing, but progress was made.  And that yellow dye bath?

Yellow yarn

It is in the queue to be knit into mittens.  Orange is in the dye pot now!

Felted Soap

This is my second batch of felted soap.   Two more felting sessions and the lavender scented soap will be done.

Scarf for charity

This is my latest scarf made with acrylic yarn.  I’m really loving this pattern.  I didn’t steam it and the edges lay really flat.

Scarf pattern

And the stitch pattern is pretty, too.  The reverse side is almost a mirror image.  Very nice together.  Tomorrow, I’m going to try this pattern 3 wide to see how it works for a wrap.  The scarf is a little over 6 inches wide.  Will 18 inches be wide enough for a wrap?  First acrylic, then if all goes well, I’ll have an alpaca wrap pretty soon! 

Must be the spring-like weather!  It is scaring me into super speed mode as I feel like festivals and markets are just around the corner.   Oh Yikes!  Seven weeks until Shepherd’s Harvest! 

 

Shepherd’s Harvest – WOW!

Shepherd’s Harvest was a blast!   Twisted Suri Alpaca Ranch and Hollyhock Farm Alpacas (me!) shared a 2-space booth.

Our booth

We packed our space with our alpaca wares!

Another front view

Yarn was front and center and we sold a bunch.  It is so nice to hear some good feedback from folks who really know their fiber.

Rugs on rack

The rug rack made its festival debue.  We had great weather on Saturday, good weather on Sunday, great vendor neighbors who had us laughing all weekend.  And as a bonus, we sold a lot of our products.  We are already planning for next year.

Off to the Festival

I’m packing our car for the trip to Shepherd’s Harvest!   Here is what has to fit:

10 bags of fiber

 These are my fleeces for sale – at least 9 of the 10 are for sale.  The 10th is going to be processed at Rach-Al-Paca fiber mill for a customer.  At least that is one that for sure is not coming home with me!  I sure hope to sell a few!

mostly product

 From left to right:  Mychair, 2 milk crates of stuff for sale, a small tote under there that has all the wrist warmers, 4 big tote bins of products for sale (the blue one is just yarn!), a pile of woven butt warmers (a requirement for those taking classes this weekend!), and the box has my body forms who will be showing off my shawls this weekend.

My rugs

And I need to fit in my rugs!  Can this all get in one car?  When I saw these piles growing in my living room, I was pretty worried I would only have room for a couple pair of clean underwear in the glove box!!  And I’m staying near the festival from Friday to Sunday!  But to my surprise,  I got all that in and still had the front seat available for a suitcase and my backpack.  Good thing, or I wouldn’t have this laptop at the hotel and wouldn’t be able to show how much cool stuff will be at Shepherd’s Harvest.  So excited about tomorrow.