Tuesday, April 15, 2008

New Kid on the Blog

This is an updated version of my first post. It bothered me that the BFL photo was excluded.

I find that keeping up with a Blog may not be my expertise, but I'm going to try. I'm a fiber person...big time. The feel of wool right off the sheep; the smell...there's something so earthy, so tactile, it calls to me to do something with it, and I do.

The sheep in the photographs are my friend Peggy's. She's a fiber person too. She has a website. Check it out when you have a chance. Peggy raises Cotswolds and Blue-Faced Leicesters. The curly headed one is Fiona, a Cotswold and the three bald faced ewes are BFL's.

It's shearing time, so there's an abundance of fleeces out there. I've been scouring fleece, drying fleece (very tricky with all the rain we get in April) and flick carding fleece. There's pounds and pounds of fleece. I drum card with my buddy Karen, who owns the drum carder, and with this wonderful machine we make beautiful batts as light as clouds. From there it's on to spinning yarn, then dyeing, and then either weaving or knitting an incredible garment. What a process. It's very satisfying. It's not something for the person faint of heart or who requires immediate gratification.

I'm also a dyer. I have a line of Hand-Painted luxury yarns for knitting. I also design patterns for socks. I'm in the process of getting my goods on Google pages. When I have the chance I love to teach knitting and spinning. Folks, this is what you do when you've been laid off your real job that actually makes money.

For future reference, I will be putting my show schedule on this blog, my teaching schedule, my favorites out on there on the web, tips and observations. Please feel free to comment.

So for now, "cheers"