Tag Archives: coopworth

Hello May

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First I just wanted to say, that I am not disappointed about the snow that is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Yes, I know it’s spring, I can’t help it.

I am however worried about these little creatures

Hopefully they will stay nice and warm under the heat lamp.

I would also very much like to get these veggies in the garden

May is here and along with it a birthday (My 35th 😳), Mother’s Day, and well, a weekend that I can compare to Christmas.

Yes folks that’s right, New Hampshire Sheep and Wool! I went alone this year but was specifically told that I was not allowed to bring home any animals…and believe me, there were a few for sale, so I very well could have.

Instead I had to settle for sheep and alpaca cuddles, browsing all the fine wool and yarns, and of course I purchased three fleeces

Cotswold, though I just realized I still have a pound from last year I haven’t even touched (whoops!), Finn which is a new one for me, and then coopworth 😍, I also purchased a new bobbin for my wheel and believe it or not I actually came home with cash.

Yesterday for Mother’s Day was spent shivering under layers and layers of fleece sweaters, though it got up to 57, the sun never came out to say hello. My mother in law and I spent our day working on my walkway

I am not the best gardener, almost all the flowers on my property were planted by the previous owner who won awards for gardens. Thankfully they are almost effortless to maintain. My mother in law use to work at a nursery and is very helpful, helping me get flowers that are low maintenance.

Last week I purchased some beautiful merino and silk roving from Port Fiber over in Portland Maine, every time I go there I make sure to stop in a peruse all of the beautiful fibers Casey has in her shop. (If you are a fan of Taproot, they are less than two minutes down the road)

I was on a mission as soon as I purchased this wool, I knew the exact colors I wanted to dye this wool and holy moly…I’m blown away!

I have to finish the doodle/romney blend I am spinning up for a friend and then I will start spinning this up, I took a short five minute class at the Sheep and Wool Festival and was taught how to spin my yarn just a little thicker, so I have high hopes for this yarn!

Speaking of homespun

The Bandana cowl is finally complete, I need to give it a soak in something (I don’t know what) to soften it up, but I am a happy camper.

Have a great day folks, and for all you snow lovers in Maine and New Hampshire, enjoy!

Heat wave

Posted in Farming, Fun with fiber, Gardening by

Hi there *wipes sweat off brow* Fall has taken off on us, decided it wasn’t ready to be here just yet.

Which has really not worked out too well when it comes to harvesting food, my basement is abnormally warm thanks to the high temperatures in our indoor green house, which has resulted in most of our pumpkins turning to mush faster than we can process them. We still have several in the garden that I refuse to pick until this heat wave ends.

Late September is usually time for Apple picking and sweaters and hot mulled cider, Sunday we picked 50lbs of apples over at Apple Acres Farm in 95 degree heat, while wearing shorts and tshirts and replaced that hot mulled cider with milkshakes.

I have every intention of heading back to this orchard when the temperatures return to normal and we can pick apples in the proper attire and enjoy that delicious cider.

I have some very exciting news to share with you, it seemed like this would never happen. I’ve dreamt and dreamt about it but never truly thought it would occur. Toph is taking classes for agriculture management and handed me a pamphlet the other day, I am going to a conference in two weeks to learn everything I can possible learn about sheep. Which of course means there are sheep in my very near future and which most likely means no one will ever see me again after I get these sheep, because I won’t be leaving my house 😂

This week at quilting we made pot holders, I finished one set and have a second set that I brought home with me that is also finished. I am also working on a huge fall project that I am hoping to share with you within a month. Unfortunately because it is a present, I cannot yet post it here.

During the last few weeks when yarn was bearable to touch, I’ve made several items, some are already on my Etsy page and some are headed that way. A couple are presents.

As much as I hate to leave this cool area of my house, I have to go brave the heat and working in my garden. Have a great week folks!

Beet it

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So we have an abundance of many things in our garden right now, beets being one of them, the grace our table nearly three times a week. Now usually I just pour out the beet juice, but last night I did something a little different.


I took my lovely first prize winning (I’m so happily surprised by that) Blue faced leicester and soaked it in bowl of warm water and vinegar for about twenty – thirty minutes, not sure on the exact time but it was soaking during bedtime stories.

Then following instructions I read on a blog about dying fabric, I added four cups of water and two cups of vinegar to the beet juice…now as you may have guessed it, this diluted the juice a bit 


It was hard to tell what this would turn into, would the color stay?! I wasn’t sure, I’ve been to a couple natural dye day workshops now and no one ever said anything about beets. First I had pictured a deep dark purple, then as it steamed for twenty minutes obviously I imagined cheery red. 

I let the yarn sit in the beet juice overnight, & what I got folks is a lovely color I wouldn’t trade for anything, a color to remind me that my favorite time of year is rapidly approaching


A nice yam orange. 

Well I had so much fun dying the BFL with the beets that I decided I wanted to try more colors, sadly these aren’t natural, but it is colors I’ve tried for a long time to achieve.


Corriedale

Coopworth
They make me think of the ocean, I think they will both be headed up to my etsy page tomorrow after they have dried. 

Have a great Labor Day folks!!

Making headway

Posted in Fun with fiber, Uncategorized by

I’m happy to say that even though I have been having issues with pain in my hands and my ball winder calling it quits, I’m back on track! 

I was able to untangle and save most of the Seawool today 

Finished spinning and plying the other half of my coopworth (I have yet to count the yards)


Started seasilk


And have gathered my other skien soft yarn together to get ready for the fair

With all the rain we will be getting this week, I feel like I could knock out two or three more skeins!

Have a great night folks!

Anniversary #3 *edit*

Posted in Farming, Fun on the farm, Fun with fiber, kids, Uncategorized by

Apparently I missed it, but according to WordPress

So let’s have a quick year in review

* This time last year I was home schooling

* We were renting a house on the New Hampshire/Vermont boarder, just two hours south of Canada

* We were just starting our house hunting search, hoping for at least 50 acres

* We had a dog, cat, and rabbit

In that time we have: 

* Stopped Homeschooling 

* Bought a 95 acre farm a little over two hours away from where we had been living

* I started quilting

* I joined a knitting group

* We now have deep breath: a dog, cat, rabbit, three pigs, four turkeys, ten ducks, 66 laying birds, and 100 meat birds….I feel like we have more chickens than that…but I am not going to go count. 

I am now also 32, & according to my lovely nine year old, if you think I look younger, you need your eyes checked. Nice, isn’t she?!

So, to add to the last post, yes we FINALLY got couches


Which would almost make my house look “adult”, if it weren’t for my fireplace

We built a coop for our backyard flock last week


And then went & picked up:

(Back to front): Splatoon, Petunia, & Toffee (who is anything but sweet I case you were wondering).

Saturday we attended the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool festival! It was so much fun!!

I was lucky enough to run into two of my old guild members from the RI Spinning Guild, Dave & his daughter Katie!! I was hoping to see Iris and a few others as well,  though I heard they were going to be there the next day, sorry to have missed everyone.
We had a busy afternoon, we watched the herding dog demo


Toph got to help shear an alpaca


They don’t just sit there all docile like every single sheep I’ve ever watched get shorn, but he seemed way happier without all that heavy. 


I bought 6lbs and 3oz of yummy wool!! Ohhhh baby! The two largest bags are each 2lbs of  my all time favorite, beautiful, silky (after its washed) Merino. The bag in front is 1lb of beautiful luscious Romney, behind that is 3oz Corriedale all ready to be spun up, and then finally a lb of coopworth. I cannot wait to start processing this wool!! 


There were so many large bags of wool, I couldn’t believe it, and the prices were fantastic!! 


Lorelai enjoyed watching the horses, while we waited for Toph to finish watching the lecture about coyotes.


I finally figured out the Bavarian stitch blanket on the way home.

I’m currently recovering from the head cold I picked up after you know…building a coop in the rain on Friday, & processing chickens (not mine) in the cold and rain on Sunday. Monday I slept all day long under three heavy blankets.

Tuesday and Wednesday I made a rather large amount of progress on my sweater

Not the best picture, but it was a last minute picture. I am just starting the lovely semi-lacy design part….glad to be doing something other than the stockinette stitch.

I’m off to soak up the sunshine (I hope, we’ve had hail twice this week).

Have a great day folks!

Also, thank you to everyone who has read my blog along the way, read it once, read it & liked what they have read, read it & rolled their eyes, those who keep coming back, those who are new, those who stumbled on my blog by mistake (oh yes, I’ve read the search terms and also wondered how you ended up here).

Thank you all for sticking with me!! You are all awesome!!
*edit*

Oh hey look!! 200 posts!