First Tri

I don't know what happened to November and December.  Oh well.  January has been too much fun to even worry about it.

Sometime during that November/December "fugue state" (does anyone watch Breaking Bad?) I did a lot or reading and research on triloom weaving.  There is a Ravelry group that is very active, and also a Yahoo Triloom Group.  The cover picture for the Ravelry group was the one that finally sent me over the edge.  Eventually, I took a short, one-day workshop in weaving on a triangular loom from Barbara Borgerd Ickler, who has been perfecting this technique for decades.  Unfortunately, her web site is a little out of date, but her workshop was wonderful. Even the show-and-tell part was excellent, and by the time she had shown us all of the beautiful examples of her work, I was sold.  Two days later I drove back and bought a 72" loom.

Unfortunately, the holidays interfered with my enthusiastic plans, so everything had to stay under wraps until all of the feasting and festivities were over.  But during that time, I found a nice easel on Craig's list,  sorted out some yarn, and vowed to set things up as soon as the house was mine once again.  

I decided not to waste my handspun on the first try, so found some mill-spun llama that I had dyed, and added some Noro and a bit of handspun for variation.  Lessons learned here:

1. Llama stretches like the devil.
2. Noro breaks and shreds at the slightest pressure.
3. The handspun was not the same grist, in fact, nothing was the same, so tension was wildly uneven.

Planning took some while, since I had lost the notes taken at Barbara's workshop.  Duh.

But I managed to hunt up enough information on line to get me started.  From there on, things seemed to slowly come back to me.  Lessons from phase two:

1. It seems to take forever to adjust the easel, chair and loom comfortably.  Had to hunt up some chains to use as reins for the easel.
2. A 6' triloom and easel takes up a lot of floor space, and tends to frighten the dogs, while being of endless fascination to the cat.
3. A light is really helpful.
4. Use something to contain your yarn, in this case, a wire waste basket.

 

Before I could bind off and make fringe (and several times along the way) I had to stop and try to take up the slack.

1. It is easier to straighten as you go than to try to clean up stretched and crooked rows at the end.
2. Don't use 100% llama!

 I soon found that outside on a warm day is the best place to work, at least during daylight hours.

Hubby worried that the shawl was too - what was the word - sloppy?  But I rather like the open, gauzy feeling, especially for spring.  I finally got the shawl bound off with something that unintentionally looked like leno lace, but is actually kind of interesting, and celebrated the last of the fringe with a Kir Royale, sporting a rose garni.

Nothing provides confidence like one hard-earned success, so shawl #2 is well underway.  And this time, I am using homegrown pygora/cashmere handspun with bits of color.  All one texture, smooth as a baby's butt, and such a pleasure to work with!  The addition of a beautiful wooden Tunisian crochet hook really makes it hard to leave the loom.  Just one more round, just one more!

A Man, a Plan, a Canal: Panama

I worked for some time trying to figure out a palindrome for A Woman, a Desperate Mess, an Impasse, but could fine none.  No palindrome, at least.  BUT, after spending an entire drizzly morning working in my "wool vault," I finally found a solution!  Nearly 200 pounds of llama, finewool, alpaca and ??? fiber in four different colors were boxed up and sent off to Zeillingers for spinning; Wensleydale fleeces were sorted and stashed,  cashmere and pygora fleeces were sent off to Fantasy Fibers for dehairing, and I started washing the other angora fleeces. 

The farm is settling down into fall, goats sheared, sheep peacefully growing their long locks, sun low in the south, but I am gearing up for the last best event of the year:  The WeFF up in Torrance next weekend.  Sorting, packing, planning and creating some new yarns, I have been really busy in the house.

Imagine my surprise when Yollie came bursting through the dog door the other evening, soaking wet!  Huh?  She made one mad dash through the living room (mercifully missing my wheel) then back out the door.  We followed her, trying to figure out what was going on.  At first we thought she had fallen in the lily pond, but there was no water on the deck.  Then she flopped her big self down in a patch of dirt and began rolling and tossing dirt everywhere.  Mad, crazy creature!



 When she had finally coated herself completely with dirt she gave a gloriously happy sigh, and rolled over.  It was then that it dawned on me:  she had found the outflow from the washing machine, and had been totally seduced by the buck smell in the water coming off the fleeces I was washing. 


 
I bet the girl goats just loved her.

I Am in Love

Never mind that he is younger than all of my children, or that he has a wife and child, or that I am married with seven grand kids, or even that he lives in a different state: I LOVE JERRY LADD!  And his dad isn't bad, either (;>)

Jerry took pity on me several months back when I was writing and ranting about our most recent shearing disaster with a brutal shearer, who was fired, leaving us in the lurch for shearing the goats in the fall.  Jerry said that he would be happy to come out and shear for us and, not only was he true to his word, but he arrived on the dot, at 7AM this past Saturday, with his very patient father along to lend a few hands.  He was prepared, experienced and utterly charming.  Plus, he's a spinner! 

Jerry set up his gear and started in on the does and kids, trimming toes as he went.   He remained unruffled - even when a couple of the devils actually bit him!  He worked with a smooth, expert style and patience, while his dad  (a businessman from Bakersfield) provided back-up, sweeping, horn-holding, kid catching and doe wrangling. 

 

 After the does and kids, we moved across the drive where he took on three extremely stinky bucks with the same gentle confidence and poise.  Even big, stinkey Eddie took the event in stride.

The big test, however, was shearing our spoiled bottle baby/premie, Mouse.  I'll let you be the judge.  Just look at the picture below and tell me if you agree that even the mighty Mouse has fallen under Jerry's spell.

With a smile like that, who wouldn't?

Gathering of the Clan

The dust has settled on September, and October is quickly passing.  The annual gathering of the kids and grand kids was a super success - after putting the slide show together, I am ready to have them back again right now!

The little pink jeep and the empty playhouse now sit alone and dejected, so sad.

A few weeks after the gathering we attended the first ever Vista Fiber Festival.  All I can say to that is "wow."  The two organizers, Mimi Loutrel and Judy Maddox, pulled off a flawless two-day event that was successful beyond all expectations.  And it was such fun!  I met old friends that I haven't seen in 40 years and made many new ones. 
The event was held on the spacious and fascinating grounds of the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum, and there was a mineral show going on in a nearby building, so there was plenty to do and see for folks of all interests. 
 There were two dozen vendors (including a pen of beautiful and friendly alpaca youngsters) and about two thousand visitors.  Can you believe it?  The weather was warm and beautiful, sales were brisk, and everyone was happy.

 Part of the tents with the weaving barn in the background.

 Our booth, somewhere in the crowd!

 The weaving barn, front and back

 Overview of the vendor area

The first day I used my wheel, second day I demoed the Navajo spindle.

Will they have it again?  We certainly hope so.  Will we attend? ABSOLUTELY!!!

The Sad Situation with Our Bees

Now that it's over, I suspect that I am feeling much like someone who has lost a pregnancy.
For the bees, at least the lucky ones, it may have been the rapture, but I am filled with a sense of loss and emptiness.

Over the decades we've lived here on the hill we have been hosts to several unwanted bee hives, always on a warm, east-facing site.  One was in the crawl space under our bedroom,  two were in the walls of the guest house.  Those unlucky hives had to be destroyed.  Some were swarms that moved out on their own in in due time, but this particular group decided to take up residency in some wooden boards leaned up against an inside shed wall of the barn.  For a long time we judiciously let them be (NPI), they weren't hurting anyone, it was wonderful to have them pollinating our plants, and we both grew to like the idea of keeping them around.

We read articles on bees and bee keeping, watched videos and movies, read blogs and became very excited about the idea of becoming backyard beekeepers.  Visions of honey comb and happy hives buzzed in our heads.

But the more we read and learned, the more complicated, difficult, physically demanding and potentially expensive the enterprise seemed to become.  Even though we found one beekeeper who said he could remove the bees from the barn wall and put them in a hive for us to keep, we finally elected to have them moved to another property when we learned that we would soon be hosting kids and seven small grand children.

So, Michael donned his fire fighter turnouts (below) and spent some time clearing out a path for Shawn, the bee man.

 

Yesterday morning, when the fog had lifted, Shawn arrived with all of his gear.   I sat in the sun and waited at what I hoped was a respectful distance while he donned his gear, hauled equipment, lugged more junk out of his way, and finally brought in his bee vac with attached hive carrying case (on the red can in the foreground).

 

It was very cool - but stressful.The bees had been very calm around us, but they could feel quite differently about someone raiding their honey come, destroying their hive, and sucking them up with a vacuum.  If they were Africanized, they could be REALLY upset.  But they weren't.  And he said it was a very healthy hive, with lots of honey.

The bees were (relatively) calm and  Shawn was calm, deliberate and patient, and eventually had a good portion of the bees in his box, and three nice chunks of golden honey comb in Tupperware for us to keep.

As delighted as I was with the honeycomb, and even though I was relieved to see that potential tot danger alleviated,  it was very sad to see them go.  After two hours of painstaking work, Shawn held up his little box and said, "Well?  Here's your bees, say goodbye."

 I miss them.  I just know they would have been wonderful bees.

ADD Without the H

I seem to have started a hundred projects, then run in circles trying to complete just one.  It's the hot, muggy middle of August, yet these days feel anything but lazy!

A gallon of milk sat too long in the fridge, so I found a recipe for making paneer and spent a few failed tries to achieve a wonderful little cheese!



I learned that:

1. You have to really heat the milk, not just warm it. 
2. It takes some time.
3. You don't need to add anything except lemon juice.  
4. It is as easy as falling down.
5. The result is delicious!
6. You can't really make ricotta from the leftover whey (or at least I couldn't).  

In fact, I don't know what you can do with it: it tasted lousy when used to make rice, and even the dogs turned their noses up at it.

Next and continuously (but not at the same time nor in the same bowls) was washing and dyeing fleece and fiber for Pluckyfluff's Yarnival event next week in Placerville (poster is here), and for other upcoming events in the fall.  The Yarnival is on Boeger Winery's grounds, and should be amazing fun, but work for Mikey since he has agreed (I think) to man the booth while I take a workshop on Saturday and Sunday.  Do you believe this progression?

Of course, the whole thing was on a much larger scale, involving two washing machines, the entire kitchen in the guest house/studio, and most of the week.  But what a lot to show for it!

 Dyes mixed and waiting -- my favorites.
 The simmering pot -- great expectations.

The rack rolls inside at night and stays out on the deck during the day.  Very convenient.

Woolllama, mohair and wool and even some ?????

The roving is a riot of color.

Another Peaceful Day

 

San Diego has the most amazing weather, and this year has beat all records for mildness.  We have yet to experience a "real" summer, and by that I mean days that are scorchers with temps in triple digits and humidity in singles, for days on end.  Instead, we have had the cooling marine layer in the morning, followed by sun mid-day, a pleasant sunset, and then cool, foggy nights.  Everyone has been sheared for the warm weather, so most of the critters spend the day hanging out in the shade.  Here (above) two of the buck goats watch as Rizado reaches for some tempting pecan leaves.  Lani has her usual "huh" expression.



 
Dusty has picked up on the slight commotion and moseys over to see if he can grab the branch.  He is taller, and - as expected - managed to connect (below), pulling the branch down so that Rizado can grab a bite, and the goats can hoover-up any stray leaves.


Eventually the tiniest llama, Lilly,  shows up to see if there is any left for her, but too late - Dusty has let go, and everyone else has to wait and wish.