I had so much fun!

...Spending Labor day weekend with friends in North Georgia. Even though they don't really get the whole fiber thing, they are active hikers, fine contra dancers, discriminating movie watchers, darn good cooks and excellent conversationalists. The female member of the duo, D is also a talented beader. So I packed up my big ol' box o' beads, plenty of knitting (did I mention the 2 1/2 hour drive, movies and talking?), garden produce and wine and my sweetie and I headed on down beyond Clayton, GA.

So I have this box of beads - some purchased over the years, some more recent acquisitions, a number of disassembled necklaces and other random bits. But I don't seem to know what to do with them. Under D's tutelage, I made 2 very cool necklaces and matching earrings, using mostly my accumulation of beads, a healthy contribution from D and only a couple of missteps that included picking up a lot of beads! All this was in between cooking great meals (all of which featured Georgia peaches and home grown tomatoes), daily swimming and hiking, and intelligent conversation. Deer abound in their neighborhood. We saw them while driving, hiking, even hanging out in the yard.

Although I am a wee bit behind on my dyeing and spinning schedules, my knitting is coming nicely. I knit about 6 hats, including 4 children's hats in sweet colors and small sizes. My supply of merino came in and my first few dyepots came out very nice. No felting, but I do need to remember not to crowd the fiber in the pot - it's denser that I'm used to.

The NC Mountain State Fair begins its 10 day run this coming weekend. I've entered 2 skeins of yarn, 3 hats and a particularly fine butternut squash. It is about 5 times the size of the others already entered, but the skin was not perfect. We shall see if size really matters.

Progress on the fiber front:

• Knitted the 6 aforementioned hats
• Finished 6 skeins of yarn
• Dyed roving (except while out of town)
• Listed and sold regularly on Etsy
• Caught up on my SMF accounting
• Patterns well underway (samples knitted, yarn measured - still need better pictures)

Doin' the Tidy Up

Nothing like the new semester to force you to clean your office, file last semester's papers, organize this semester's work and generally spend a bit of time getting one's house in order. I had an outrageously busy summer with teaching an undergrad class, designing and teaching 3 (three!) new professional development workshops for teachers, including the pilot testing of some learning activities with real live students - 5th and 6th graders who attended our 'science camp.' "Next year can we do this for a whole week?" Hmmm... I am closing out one grant program and starting up a new one. But academia is still hugely better than Corporate America, so I never complain. OK hardly ever.

The Etsy store is hopping! Again, I'm not complaining, but it's all I can do to keep it full these days. I have dye(crock)pots going most mornings and evenings, with extras on the weekend, and plenty of roving shipping out in it's natural state. This morning I got up early to photograph some roving to post it later in the week, so I am trying to stay ahead. This weekend is Labor Day and my sweetie and I are heading off to spend time with friends. I plan on taking knitting, my beadbox and the unfinished patterns to finish editing and getting the photos right. Writing the patterns is fun. I thought it was a bit silly, but my colleague at Asheville Homecrafts tells me that people like to buy patterns and has asked me to develop a couple more. So that is on the list. I'm also taking sock yarn to be skeined. Not the sexiest, but it needs doing!

We got about 4 inches of rain over that last few days - Thanks, Fay. Of course I found a roof or chimney leak that I didn't know about, but that just one of the thrills of owning a house. The garden is happier already!

The Monday night dance with Cailen Campbell was great - fabulous music, high energy, well attended but still danceable. It was another of those nights that make me know why I call dances.

psst! 122 pounds, courtesy of the South Beach Diet. I guess I can quit now.

It's Raining!

And rain is very good news here in Western North Carolina. The region has been in extreme drought all summer for the 2nd year in a row. But luckily the tail end of tropical depression Fay is bringing us a few days of much needed rain. The garden is looking pretty peaked, the grass and a number of the perennials are about gone, but now looks like we are in for a good soaking.

Progress on the fiber front continues as well. I spun 4 big, fat Louet bobbins at the WNC Farmers Market on Saturday, drawing interested people into Locally Grown, the craft shop that sells my yarn and fiber. In the meantime I made a decent delivery to Asheville Homecrafts in the Grove Arcade, finally filling up the allotted area for hand dyed fibers in spinners' quantities. The sock yarn is doing very well there, selling several skeins per week, so I dye-painted several more skeins this weekend. They have also started stocking my patterns and have requested more.

So I have to complete the development of 'Trailside,' and 'The Mad Russian' - that's it in the photo. Sally was pretty taken with the early version of Trailside, developed for Brown Sheep Bulky, so I've decided to keep working on that pattern as well. It is a good one, and works well for commercial yarns. I've got a healthy quantity of KnitPicks Bulky, which knits to the same gauge. Sounds like just the thing for my upcoming travel knitting!

I have had very good results with the merino that I have been felting. I made a healthy amount of flat felt, made up a number of flower parts and did some assembly, completing at least six pins. Sally gave me a handful of barrette backs for felt hair jewelry. Looks like a job for flowers with lots of leaves. another travel project? hmmm....

Classes start tomorrow. I am teaching 2 day classes of the educational technology course that has become my stock in trade and will start another class for the short semester of the evening program. The class looks better than ever, so I am looking forward to getting started.

Tonight, I'll be calling the contra dance at the Grey Eagle in Asheville. Cailen Campbell is playing his wicked fiddle. Looking forward to it!

Progress!

Although I admit that I was a bit aghast at my 'to do' list in the previous post, I feel as if I will be able to meet the goals. I found a small spiral notebook that can live on my desk or in my purse and I can keep track of the projects that I have accomplished (or not).

So far, I have...

• Completed 2 hats (this one during the staff meeting)
• Posted to Etsy daily
• Made progress (writing, testing, photographing) on the freebie hat pattern (working title, Trailside).
  
• Dyed green roving (3 batches)
• Made flat felt to use in flower pins
• Updated the SAFF site
  

I have also taken on a special order and (so as not to be in a completely fun-free world) took in a movie. My Sweetie and I saw 'Sex and the City' last night at the local Brew and View. Lots of fun, even for people who never actually saw the TV show. Cute and a bit predictable, but still great fun. I also knitted most of a felt hat while watching. I've never actually knitted through a movie at the theatre before, but this one was highly knit-friendly.

I made 2 sheets of flat felt from some merino I purchased a number of years ago, but never liked carding or spinning it. But I came upon some blues and purples a few months back, so I thought I'd test their feltiness and it was excellent. I think it's time to get out the rest of the box and dye it in 'flowery' colors!

Returning to Normal

At least I hope so. After a summer of teaching a summer school class that moved at breakneck speed, teaching a number of brand new Professional Development workshops, helping a friend get her business up and running, it looks like a welcome mildly relaxing period. Of course for me, this means doing the financials for the grant, creating next year's budget and getting ready to teach my class (3 sections) while gearing up for the fall fiber season.

It occurs to me that the Mars Hill Heritage Festival is only 6 weeks away. Though it's just a one-day fair, I still have to do it! That means knitting hats, spinning yarns, making fiber bundles for spinners and felt makers and just showing up with all my goods and chattels ready to sell. So I need to set realistic goals to be ready. On top of the new fiber put ups in the Grove Arcade shop (4 ounce fiber 'wheels' suitable for spinning), my spinning at Locally Grown has cut into my stash of dyed fibers, so I need to ramp up the dyeing, the lone crock pot is just not quite keeping up with demand. The Etsy shop is hard to keep stocked as well. Although I have neglected it in favor of the day job of late, I need to get back to daily posting.

Fall 2008 Goals:

• Knit 5 hats per week.
• Develop freebie pattern as hangtag for Locally Grown yarns
• Dye 2 crock pots per day + 4 big pots of fiber weekly
  
• Dye 6-8 skeins of sock yarn per week
• Make 4-6 felted pins per week
• Spin 300 yards per week (1/2 natural; 1/2 dyed)
• Weekly deliveries to Asheville HomeCrafts
• Bi-weekly deliveries to Locally Grown
• Spin at Locally Grown every week or so
  
• Post to Etsy shop at least 5 times per week(try for daily)
  
• Update SAFF site weekly.

Now I realize that there is a serious lack of fun in this plan. So let this be a warning to me and everyone around: Fun will happen! It will just be covered in fiber! There are dances to be called, gardens to be tended, classes to be taught (wait, that's not always fun!), but it's fall fiber season!

Lots of fun the past few weekends, calling dances in Blacksburg, visiting friends in North Georgia,and just generally enjoying summer - not too hot, just summery!

Summertime - and the Living is Great!

I love summer for so many reasons: home grown tomatoes, fresh flowers, fruits, vegies and herbs, a different vibe at the college, long evenings on the porch, the list goes on.

This morning I was watering the garden and admiring the flowers and vegetables that are coming along. The tiny yellow cherry tomatoes have volunteered in spades and are starting to ripen. The Brandywine tomatoes and other heritage varieties are taking their time, but I can start eating all the little yellow ones that I want. The volunteer squash have turned out to be butternut (yeah!) and the herbs are in their glory- I need to keep them deadheaded almost every day. The heavy mulch has turned out to be a very good thing, keeping weeds down and easy to pull. And, yes, the baby butternut is sitting on a cushion of fleece, both hand dyed and natural! It is so slow to break down in the compost bin, but it does make an excellent mulch - and it's a good way to get rid on the fleece I will NEVER use. I don't think it's just the economy, I have always been drawn to growing food. My friend Beth at An Urban Plot is working toward creating a CSA in her urban yard. That is beyond my goals, but I hope to add a bed each summer that will expand my growing area and result in less grass to cut. I am properly jealous of her rainwater catchment system and hope to start my own in the coming months. City water is an expensive way to go.

Last evening I picked about 2 quarts of blackberries and raspberries at my sweetie's place. But for the rather precarious footing and arms that were not 8 feet long, I would have picked many more. Yum!!

The summer crock pot dyeing continues in force, in both hot and cool colors. I've been spinning up color change yarns at Locally Grown on the weekends. Sally, Kathryn and random little kids are arranging the order of batts to be spun, coming up with color combos that I would not select. I find them surprising and exciting. I can't wait to start knitting them up. Between Locally Grown and the Etsy shop, the fiber business has been quite busy.

Carding Jacob in its Many Colors

OK, I'll get off the diet kick (125 1/2 lbs! thank you very much!). After all this is Smoky Mountain FIBERS!

I spent much of last Friday carding wool for spinning. I have a lovely Strauch's Finest drum carder (in cherry!) that has been languishing of late. I purchased a beautiful Jacob fleece at last year's SAFF and it's been a bit lonely too. So I finally got them together for a play date. Perfect Spot Maeve, meet Otto!

After picking the fleece, I separated it into white, dark brown and mixed fiber. For those of you who don't know, Jacob sheep are spotted. The colors can be black, brown or 'lilac' combined with white or cream. The sheep also have lots of horns - up to 6. you can learn more about them at the Jacob breeders' page, but suffice it to say, they have extremely cool fleece. Some is a bit 'kempy' but not Maeve or last year's special friend, Sienna. This is Maeve, but her brown fleece is much darker than that picture shows.

So once I carded the 3 basic colors, I made some interim blends. Last evening I started spinning the darkest of the bunch. I plan to spin finer that usual - about a worsted weight - in a number of colors and a few color change yarns, maybe a random blend or two. My actual plan is to knit 7 different hats from the same fleece. Why seven? Just a good number! I hope to enter a couple of hats in the NC Mountain State Fair and in SAFF and see how I do. I am mostly interested in just seeing how I can take these yarns in the same color family and create a number of truly beautiful pieces.

I have also been dyeing bright colors to reinvent the color change yarns that were so much fun to make last year. I'm working my way around the color wheel and may take Otto to Locally Grown Fine Arts at the WNC Farmer's Market this weekend. Enough just sitting and spinning - I'll card a bit too. It will keep me moving around!

Destashing continues on the Etsy site and at Locally Grown.