a Whirlwind of activity

I had three days off last week & I used them to get ready for our church's Covenanting Ceremony on Sunday evening for our new minister.  (She is already installed part time at another church in the Portland area, so the District would not let us "Install" her as our minister).

So we called it a Covenanting Ceremony.  Well, six of one, half dozen of the other -

But the Saturday before that I had a Spinner Guild meeting to go to.  I had 12 skeins of yarn that needed to be wound into balls, so instead of taking my wheel, I took my umbrella swift  and my  Yarn Ball Winder and my big basket FULL of skeins of yarn.


 




It literally took me the whole three hours to get them all done.

Then when I got home, I had lots of snoopervision getting everything out of the trunk.

We have to really watch Bella - as you can see from the picture above, she disappears into the darkness.  

But she is VERY good at snoopervision - everything that comes out of the car has to have the official BSOA - The Bella Stamp Of Approval! 

Anyhow - getting back to last week and my three days off - I was in charge of putting together the program for Sunday night (from our Minister's Order of Service) and I was also making a new "pew card" Order of Service for regular Sunday services.  Then there was the matter of the "congregational gift" - traditionally a cleric's stole

- which I figured - How hard could it be? 

(Famous last words...)  I had a pattern from our choir stoles - - then we decided to make it in velveteen -

Oh, My - measure three times before you cut once - I was so nervous - (when I told the lady at Joanne's Fabrics that I had the project because I had a sewing machine - she said that she would think about getting rid of that sewing machine... ha ha ---) 

We arranged with a local embroidery company to make the chalice patch (bottom right hand corner of the picture) & I set out to put it together.  The patch had to be hand sewn onto the velveteen, which took longer than I though it would, and if I were to do it again, I realized that I should have put some interfacing on the back - because it lacked - ah, - substance, I guess - but as you can see, Rev. Marcia was very happy with it, and as I told her, if she got nervous, she could just stroke it, kind of like a little kid's 'softie'

Saturday, I also made a couple of things for the reception - Sorry I didn't take pictures of them  - but I made some home-made cheese crackers (yum - and easy, I will make these again) and a cream cheese torte  - (my recipe is easy - you basically whip together 1# of room temp. butter & 1# of light cream cheese.  Line a bowl with plastic wrap or cheese cloth (so you can plate it for serving) then I layer it up with what ever I have - this time I made an olive salad with feta cheese for top & bottom layer and smoked salmon for the middle, but I have used pesto, roasted red peppers and artichokes, any number of yummy things.    Let it chill for a couple of hours to set, but it's best served at room temperature) Serve it with crostini bread or crackers - Left overs are very good on pasta too...

All that said - our Sunday was busy (because we had church in the morning too) and ran late into the evening for the ceremony and reception.  Luckily I had planned for Monday off as well because I was one tired puppy and there was still last week's laundry to do!!. 

So, I'm back - I have some new yarn and some crocheted "finished objects" to show you - and a story about "Bella, the hood ornament" and all the new sleeping spots around the house. 

Later -

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More yarn for church auction

Eeek - what a week!

First off - the class from Judith McKenzie McCuin was fantastic - the three days just sped by and I took a lot of pictures and we did a LOT of spinning - so I have lots to tell you, but haven't had the time to down load the pics & edit them. (picture a little frowny face here...)

Next time I take one of her classes, (and there will be a next time for sure, - I swear to god, the woman must be related to the pied piper...now I understand why some people would follow her anywhere - but that's another blog subject) anyhow, the next time I take one of her classes, I will take off a day before the class - to get ready and to do all the things that I would normally do on Saturday - like laundry, etc - then I would definitely take the day after the class off - to absorb all the stuff I learned, finish all the projects I didn't get finished during class and to rest - I couldn't believe how tired I was after three days of spinning!

Got back to work and the reality of it all . We're still dealing with the "train wreck" that the new accounting system has caused in our office. If anyone ever tells you that "Total Office Manager" by Aptora is a great idea for new software for your office - jump off a cliff first - It will hurt less - trust me... Oh, it does have some good points - new things always do, but, phew - parts of it really stink! And that's all I'm going to say about it for now, anyhow...

Our church auction is tomorrow night. I promised them I would bring three things - 8 ounces of handspun yarn - this is what you see drying in our bathroom (luckily we have two and don't use this shower) - it is "potluck roving" from Kathy Green in Ferndale, in a colorway called "Wild Iris". I didn't like how it spun up at first - It is REALLY green - I mean GREEN - and you couldn't really see the blue, white and yellow bits - but once I washed it, it seemed better somehow. I think it will make a cute hat or pair of slippers.

Speaking of hats, the second thing I said I'd bring is made from the targhee that I talked about last week. It spun up so beautifully - I promised a hat and a pair of wrist warmers. The wrist warmers are done and I just finished the hat tonight - I used one of the patterns that I used last year for my Christmas hats - it has "bobbles" all over it - really cute, I thought. I'll take pictures tomorrow in the daylight.

The third thing is a man's hat made from yarn I had left over from last year's hat projects - pretty easy pattern - but it seemed like it was going to be really heavy, so I have added some rows of double crochet - hopefully that will lighten it up - I'll have to wait and see.

Hopefully I'll get that hat done tomorrow, but there is a lot of competition for my time. The Skagit fleece and wool sale is tomorrow a.m. and our spinner guild meeting is tomorrow as well - with a stroke of luck, they are only a couple of miles apart and the wool sale starts first - I even sold some of my handspun yarn to one of the guys that I work with - he paid me today, so I have some "seed money", no?

So, it's off to bed for me - the candle that I've been burning at both ends is getting shorter and shorter -

P.S. I forgot to tell you - I also took in a Whatcom Weaver's Guild meeting on Wednesday night - Kim Werker, the woman who started the Crochet Me web site was speaking - she is a great story teller and brought up some very interesting points about the disparity between the fiber arts. More later..........

What can I say?

It is just that sometimes life interupts blogging...Spinner guild meetings, Sheep moving, shepherds with bad backs, church, church choir, financials at work, payroll at work, spinning on Anna Dee's fleece, debates - see what I mean?

OK, so, forgive me for I have sinned, it's been five days since I blogged. There, are you happy?

Calliope, the Muse of Epic or Heroric Poetry must have visited our friend Kathy at Sheep Thrills Farm before she got to my neck of the woods, because Kathy so eloquently gives her thoughts about "Culling" - as she puts it - "the shepherd's least liked job"

We are not paying $20 a bale for hay up here (yet) but when a farmer has less than 1/2 acre - culling is necessary if you want to keep your flock moving forward. The shepherd has been working towards finer fleece - and when two of your older, foundation ewes are not breedable any more, something's (or somebody's) gotta go.

In this case, it was Regina & Anna Dee. Although they are only 4 and 6 years old, there were subtle problems - Anna Dee's udder health and Regina's broken down feet, that made it necessary to decide that they needed to be moved to a farm where there was no chance that they would get pregnant - ie. a ram breaking out of his pen - it happens - just ask all those shepherds with "surprise lambs" out there...
So, Saturday afternoon, he loaded them up in the trailer and we headed off to their new home - somewhat of a surprise to their "new" shepherd, and he had not been reachable by phone and hadn't been appraised that they were coming - but he was a good sport, and cleaned out a place in his barn. There is still more fencing that he needs to do, but they have beautiful new digs, with loads of green grass.

Our friend Nancy was also there with one of her older ewes - it was quite a "party", so to speak.


The funniest thing that happened was the reaction of the llamas & goats, who, apparently, had never seen sheep before, and acted (and sounded 0ff) like they were the spawn of the devil himself!

If you've never heard a llama on full alert, it is something to behold - someplace between a honk and a snort - they almost sound like they are laughing. They would run (RACE) away, then their curiousity would get the better of them and they would RACE back. More honking - more racing around. We laughed and laughed and laughed.




In the middle of all this, we had another Swaperoo to make. Seems that The Shepherd had made arrangements to take a couple of Nancy's sheep too, and rather than require us to go back to her place, she had loaded them up in the trailer with the sheep she was bringing to this new shepherd.

One of them is this lovely Icelandic lady - we get to name her - she will be called Lila. The shepherd says when she runs it is kind of like watching the Flying Nun - as her wool fluffs out to the sides. It is extremely soft, and I'm anxious for next February shearing time already.


But not as soft as this one - her name is Violet. Isn't she just the cutest little thing you've ever seen? She is only three months old (remember that story of the ram breaking out...)










This is what her wool looks like. We figure she will probably lose the spots, at least the first year, as they are already white underneath. It is soft, soft, soft. Watch out Black Sheep Gathering - Here is next year's blue ribbon winner!






And last, but not least - a "jelly bean" update.

Roger at Auto-B-Craft came through with a bid to fix her at a little under $900. Yay! Double Yay! He will have to fit me into his schedule - he said probably 2 or 3 weeks out - but I sure miss having that hatch back -

I'll have some time this weekend to update you on my most recent "FO" or "Finished Object" the star shaped baby blanket that I started while we were on vacation last month. (and the new baby to go with it!)

Busy, busy, busy...

First it was the Olympics (loved the platform diving and the synchronized swimming!) then it was the Democratic National Convention (fell in love with Michelle Obama and was greatly inspired by the grace of Hillary Clinton) I am excited and proud to have our candidates transcend gender and race. It will be an interesting fall.

Got my church newsletter done tonight - to the printer tomorrow - and I'll finish my timecards for payroll in the morning before work. Whew -

But this is what I did for relaxation - I turned this (it's Regina) -








into this - (this is a real close up picture - I need to remember to put a coin in the picture like Leigh does.)

Not as good as my blue ribbon yarn - I didn't prep the fiber good enough on the first bobbin - Learned my lesson - hope it's one I'll remember because it makes life (and spinning) a whole lot easier!) Prep, prep, prep! (although there is something to be said by spinning from a bump of pin-drafted roving vs. spinning from a bat... even if it's been pulled into roving...hmm)

Yes, I'm still here

Contrary to popular belief, I am still among the living - In fact, my sister actually called me to find out if I was OK, cause I hadn't blogged in so long! - (well at least someone is reading, huh?)

I actually have been trying to shake that darn cold I got a month ago - I decided that I would try getting more sleep - meaning I've been heading to bed at 10:30 instead of 12:30 - them's my blogging hours - night owl that I am - (doesn't do much for the ahem "married life"...when one is a night owl and the other is a morning person... TMI, I know)

That and combined with getting the business end of Washington Wool dot Net off the ground - we are now a Washington Corporation - ready for memberships to come rolling in the door!

Seriously, I really do believe that this web site will be a great thing for small farms like ours who cannot afford to do a big marketing push just for the few fleeces that we have each year - plus helping to educate the public about our animals and our farms. For instance, some of us have been asked if we kill our animals to get the fleeces - "Ah, NO!" These critters are our "fiber partners" - and speaking of fleeces and "fiber partners" - ours are all "nekked"- - Friday was SHEARING DAY!

Before

We call them our puff balls on sticks -













After -



Look kind of scrawney, don't they? - but actually they are all in very good condition according to Marcia - she was very pleased at how they looked, and they actually behaved themselves (realitively) well this year

I took the morning off from work - thankfully our receptionist, who had been off all week due to some health issues was able to come back in, so I didn't have to worry about my co-worker being there all by herself on the phones (that was another thing that sucked up my energy last week - we have 12 lines on our phone system and it seemed like they were ringing in 2 or 3 lines at a time - all day long - thank heavens for headsets!)

The Shepherd had been devising sneaky ways to get the boys and Gwen & Pearl penned up until Marcia came - we were here first shearing on Friday - she has about a 2 1/2 hour trip including a ferry ride to get here - so it becomes a major deal to have her come. She has been shearing for us for about 7 or 8 years, I think - she starts off with giving each sheep a pedicure - which goes really fast, so I didn't get any good pictures - but what is there to see - a sheep on his or her butt getting their toenails clipped - you got the idea...

She did the boys first - get the squirmiest ones out of the way first - Scooter did real well - Arlo - not so much - here's how his "hair cut" went:



Help - I've been sheep-napped

















Marcia is really fast - she shears over 2000 sheep a year - it is backbreaking work - starts on the belly and gets that stuff out of the way then goes up one side and down the other





























And "voilla" - a big white pile of fleece - this is our first really white fleece - I think it will be NFS...












It took them a few minutes to sort out "who was who" They don't seem to recognize each other without their "jackets" on - silly sheep.

Well - it's past my 12:30 bed time- but here's a sneak peek of the rest of our shearing -

Working on the next 100

Post #201 ~ a milestone if you count base 10's I guess - (I have to tell you that I was pretty weak on that part of my math education.)

If you've wondered where I've been, (like my sister who called to see if I was OK because I hadn't been posting) ...I have been burning the midnight oil this week with my church newsletter. I have been the editor for two years now - it kind of caught me by surprise this year - (we take the summer off- quite civilized, I think)

I'm so not ready for summer to be over.

So, what's coming up? I have a really good recipe for shepherd's pie made with ground turkey (no lamb dishes around here - ick); and I'm currently reading a mystery novel - a who-dunnit where the flock of sheep, led by a very smart ewe called "Miss Maple" ferrit out who did in their shepherd. I'll be sure to report on that!

Plus, our friends Curtis & Felicity are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a big party on Saturday - I think it will bear telling about - they are having a live band - Pearl Django (Here's a clip from their bio - "Celebrating more than 13 years in existence Pearl Django continues to be one of America’s most respected and busiest Hot Club style groups. Their music reaches out across the divides of taste to a wide variety of audiences. The band's fervent followers include Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli fans, guitar enthusiasts (and guitarists!), lovers of string music, including bluegrass devotees, who relish nimble, clean, intricate picking, "world music" fans drawn to French and Gypsy accents, plus jazz buffs and aficionados of the new swing music. Transcending simple categorization, Pearl Django packs in enthusiastic audiences at dancehalls and nightclubs, at folk music festivals and jazz festivals alike". Voted favorite area jazz band 2003,by Seattle Weekly readers! ) I have been listening to the MP3's from their web site while I'm writing - fun music - not your every day soft rock, that's for sure! I'm looking forward to hearing more of their music.

Well, that's the skinny on what's happening - I'm grateful that the weather has been temperate (OK, so, it's been darn wonderful, but in deference to my southwest and midwest friends who are having such horribly hot days and flooding rains, that's all I'm going to say about it, OK? ) The cats need to go to the V-E-T for their annual check-up and we need to find a house sitter for when we go on vacation. There's lot's to do, and I'm not going to get it done sitting here - it's time to hit the sack!