Upper Valley Fiber Festival

April 25, 2009

Upper Valley Fiber Festival

Tipp City, OH

We have only two fiber festivals each year within a reasonable driving distance from my home. The Upper Valley Fiber Festival in the spring, and The Wool Gathering in the fall. I enjoy these types of events so much, I make a real effort to attend both. The Upper Valley Fiber Festival is in it's third year of existence, so still small, but fun. Three members of our knitting group and I made the short trip north on Saturday to be greeted by these lovely sheep. Their pasture buddies had already been shorn, these were waiting their turn.

Rosy, a 4 week old goat is very docile and a delight to touch. Her mama is shown holding her.

The beginning of row one.

Yarnique is a yarn shop close to home, in Fairborn, OH. Stefanie was a delight to visit with. Her mom owns the shop, and I'm sure she gets a nice yarn discount for helping her with these shows. My photo doesn't do justice to the sweater and shawl. The sweater was beautifully knitted by Stefanie, and the shawl is hand woven, with I believe, handspun yarn, by another crafter.

Leslie, at Lee Lee's and Twisted Stitches, hand dyes all these roving's and yarns with the help of her friend. I thought her colors were just gorgeous. The BFL roving had a wonderful crimp, that I rarely see. I was very, very tempted to purchase some of that BFL, but refrained. I have so much fiber at home calling my name.

These two ladies were a hoot. They're from Fuzzarelly Fibers in Laconia, IN. They really enjoy their craft. I didn't get the name of the spinner. She was too busy on that wheel spinning a beautiful yarn. Her friend Nancy, in the lower photo was sporting a felted flower ring in her hair. I'm sure she made it. I asked her to hold up her shawl for a photo. This is handspun yarn and I believe she told me when she was finished, she casted off over 3000 stitches. WOW! The only fiber I treated myself to was the softest, most beautiful batt, carded by Nancy. It's made up of 80% Angora and 20% Merino.

A final shot of the "fiber buddies". From left to right, me, Karen, DeeAnn and Terri. We had a great time!

New Fibers and Treats

Wow has this month gotten away from me! I can't believe it's the 24th already. Where do the days go! School is going to be out for the summer in one month and boy will I be busy then!

Well the other night I decided to treat myself to a few things and order some supplies. While at one of my favorite places whether it be online or in person I found the fibers that are pictured above It is Mauch Chunky a 60-40 blend of Newzealand wool and domestic wool. It is really neat and I can't wait to incorporate it into some Goober Buns. This is 3 of the 5 colors that I ordered the other two are on backorder.
I also added to my little library collection with the book above and the video below. Both are amazing. I'm just so pleased with both and really enjoying them. I can't wait to put some of the techniques to work. I purchased both from The Yarn Barn in Lawrence Kansas and they got here super fast. I was amazed.

Time for a Bit of Dye pot FUN!!

These are both from Wool Top. I really like what I get from the Yarn Barn it's very good stuff. So I had to play just a bit. Above is just a batch that I did with some deep orange. Love the color.
This one was really fun! I used turquoise and red and just put the dye in here and there with a syringe alternating the colors. I ended up with beautiful light turquoise to maroons, reds, and purples. It is really fun to spin. I am doing a thin single with it and thinking of doing a cabled yarn. Not sure yet I'll just have to wait and see.

I am hoping to get a few sets of Goober buns done today! I want to play with that Mauch Chunky fiber. So we'll just have to see how the day progresses.

Hugs to All

Dee

Easter Chicks

Well we got the call today! The chicks had hatched. So called grandpa to get the cage and heat lamp out of the barn. Called husband and had him pick up the litter and feed, and the boys and I loaded up and picked up our little box of chicks. They are just adorable. I look forward to next year hatching my own.

It has been very hard to get the boys to go to bed tonight. They want to keep peeking at the chicks. As soon as this little cold spell passes they will go in the shed for a couple of weeks before I move them into the actual chicken coop. So for a few days I will have to really keep and eye on the 3 yr old.

Just wanted to share our new additions. And a picture of the boys. We took them to an Easter Egg Hunt. Both Mark and Matthew's first!


Matthew was intent on discovering what goodies were hiding inside and I couldn't get him to look up. After the Hunt, the rest of us stood outside our vehicles talking but he crawled right into the vehicle and was content to eat and play with his basket of goodies.



I just set Mark on the ground by two eggs, and he was more interested in the grass than the two colored eggs! It's just amazing how far we've come in a year! Three amazing Blessings!





Last Easter

It's just amazing how far we've come in a year! Three amazing Blessings! It's just so exciting to see the changes. I can't wait for next year.

Easter is a beautiful Holiday, but for me it also brings intense Emotions. And I think even more so this year than any other! Intense Sorrow for Christ's Crusifixion and what he had to endure as a Man, but also Intense Joy as He is RISEN!!

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Easter!

Love and Hugs Dee

Dyepots going Everywhere!

Domestic Wool
Here is some of my wonderful (Domestic Wool), this is Targhee that I purchased as a raw fleece from a wonderful Ranch in Montana. I love their wools. So far I have gotten both white and colored lincoln from them and also this lovely white targhee. It is soooo soft and springy. And has very little VM which makes my work a lot easier. I know he does coat some of his sheep but even the ones that haven't been coated are really nice. It dyes beautifully too! I did a Sky Blue, Salmon, and Lilac. Can't wait to work these into batts and then Goobers.




Don't be afraid of Mill ends.
Here I have carded batts of Targhee, merino roving (commercially prepared) that I dyed, and Mill ends. I know that a lot of people are leary of working with mill ends but if you know your supplier and where they get them they can be amazing. I buy them in Bulk, and have tried several different types. There is always stuff that you can't use for spinning but I save that for the day when I can try my hand at some felting.



Lincoln Wool!!
You have to love it!! I think it's a lot like mohair. But it's soooo soft and fuzzy! I've spun it by itself, but my favorite thing to do is to blend it. Well you know I love blending everything. It adds an amazing halo and sheen to your yarns.

Here again I've used the Salmon, Lilac, and that amazing Silver Gray. I'm so pleased with the way they all came out. This was definately a wonderful day of dye pot fun for me!






Here is the Merino Roving that I dyed with the Salmon along with some of the Mill Ends. I haven't carded the Mill ends yet but just wanted you to see them. There is definately at least a touch of Mohair in the mill ends because I can she the shimmer it has. Just some really pretty stuff. I've actually already made a set of Goober Buns from some of the merino and they came out just Beautiful. Maybe I'll get more carding done this weekend and be able to incorporate some of the yummy Mill ends into a few sets. I can't wait!



I got a new silver gray and wanted to try it! I love the way it came out. I dyed both mill ends and mohair, and some Lincoln (which you saw above) and was just thrilled with the results. Below is the Mohair and some mill ends.



Well it was a fun and productive day of playing with Fiber and Color! Now I have to get busy carding and preparing to create some new Goober Buns. All the hard work in the beginning is soooo worth it when I get to actually start making the batts of beautiful fiber and color combinations. The sky is the limit. Well I suppose that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs Dee

A Dyeing Afternoon

A Dyeing Afternoon

This afternoon I got the old dye pots out and played with some roving and yarn. I usually don't do this when the family is home because of the mess it creates. Oh well, I dove right in anyway. Here I dyeing a superwash Merino.

This is some mohair a friend gave me a year or so ago. I have no efficient way of blending fibers so have done nothing with it to this point. It was very dirty! After numerous washings and a little dye this is what I came up with.

Michigan Wolverines!! A customer order in the works.

Some Fiber FUN!!

Mill ends that have been carded into batts!
Batch of Mill ends that I dyed Aztec Gold. The picture above shows an example of the fiber once I have put it through the drum carder a few times.
This is some amazing Targhee that I purchased as a raw fleece and then scoured and dyed it. It is sooo soft and yummy.
This is a small sampling of my glitz and sparkle fibers.
This is my big bag of wonderful mohair.
Above you will see just a few of the wonderful fibers that I use in my Goober buns. I am an all around Fiber Finatic, and I haven't yet met a fiber that I don't like. Each lends it's own characteristics. Below I will take you through a few steps of creating a Goober Bun.


First I layer the fibers onto the drum carder, some roll through, but mohair, silks, and bamboo get placed on the drum by hand. This is the batt removed after the first run.


This is the same batt that I have split in half and layed it on it's side so that you could see the layers of fiber and color. This will now travel through the drum carder one more time.

Here is the batt after the second time through the drum carder and it's now ready to be rolled into a Goober bun.

Here it is all rolled up and ready for it's photo shoot!

There are no two that are the same. Which is what I love about them and makes them so much fun to spin.

Hope you have enjoyed my attempt as I am still learning and was having a hard time getting my pictures to do what I wanted.

New Additions on the Farm

Well it's been very busy here the last few days. We have our two little additions to the Farm Family. Their names are Butch (little brown face), and Bill ( white with golden eye). They are just the cutest little fellows. And I had to share them with you!

My husband came home with their dog house that is on the front porch! I was really worried about putting the little fellows out there but they have really taken to it and I will sure be able to rest easy tonight. The last two nights I've slept on the couch with puppies cuddling up, nipping at my chin and elbows and getting up at least twice a night to take them outside. Normally there is a NO Pets Allowed in my house but I just couldn't imagine putting them out on their own. And they were not allowed to roam.

We also finally found someone who raises Nubian Dairy Goats and I am so excited to go and look at the babies, and pick out the ones that we want. We won't get our Boer's until the end of next month and then the Nubians sometime in June. I'm excited for both.

That's about it for now! I've been working on a couple of custom orders and working on some more Goobers to list. Have a wonderful Weekend !!

Dee