Winding Creek Fiber Farm: Fiber Farm To do list . .. .

Winding Creek Fiber Farm: Fiber Farm To do list . .. .: "I really should feel fortunate that my 'to do' list involves so many relaxing fun items. .. spinning, weaving, knitting, tending animals. . ..."

Fiber Farm To do list . .. .

I really should feel fortunate that my "to do" list involves so many relaxing fun items. .. spinning, weaving, knitting, tending animals. . .. all very relaxing things. .. . .until I try to do too many at one time.  .. as I am known for doing.

I have finally, finally finished the "Buster Brown" yarn.  It took me 2  1/2 weekends and lots of hours. .. .one ply was very tedious. .. .but  I AM DONE! !  ! and it is BEAUTIFUL!  It has been washed and is drying, it will be weighted, counted, priced and labeled. . .. and then out for sale.  Roxy gets first dibs . . .as she has a shawl already started in this yarn . . and then the rest will be sold either via email, etsy, artfire or the vendor booth.

As you can see, Bruiser was so stressed by this project:

Last week, I had on my to do list . . .finishing warping the rug loom . .. that is where I am headed next. .. .here is a picture of the progress.

I hope where ever you are and whatever you are doing, you are having a wonderful weekend.  I've extended my weekend by a day . . so still have two days left after today. . . hopefully, posting a finished table runner by the end of Monday.

Happy Weaving!

Fibery Weekend

It has been a very, very cold weekend here in NW Ohio, so I spent most of my time inside trying to finish some projects ..  .of course . .. thought I could do more, but here is what I finished.  Lots, and lots of Buster Brown Autumn Leaves yarn and I embelished 4 hats.

Now for some hats . .. .

It's been a long weekend but I am happy to have so much done.  This week I should finish the rest of Buster and the last hat.  I'll post pics when I am done with the last hat - it is a natural Brown Llama with a blue band embellished with Daiseys.

Happy Spinning, Weaving and Knitting this week. .. talk to you soon!

Brrrrr. . . . . . .

Geez!  It looks like it is going to be a really cold day and weekend according to the weather this morning!  I was hoping to get some stuff done around the barn this weekend . ...that might not happen.  I do have a couple projects on my "todo" list this weekend . .. .I am hoping to finish spinning buster for Roxy. ..I have 4 bobbins of buster with"junk" spun and two plain buster bobbins spun . ..tonight should be a good night to ply ..  .I should end up with 8 - 10 skeins of yarn. Once they are done, I will wash them and when they are dry I will pass them on to Mom to count yardage, weight, price and label.

My next project for the weekend is to trim and embellish the 5 felted hats that Mom, Jean and I have knitted recently. . .well one came out more like a bowl (one of mine). .. oh well.  I am working on knitting the roses for a couple of the hats and then I will be ready to embellish them and post them on line and then take them down to Rebecca at S Type Creative here in Defiance.

My third project involves heading down to the basement, to my weaving studio "wanna be" area . .. .to use my "new to me" rug loom .. . . .I have it about half warped . ..the loom, not me, . . .anyway ..  .I have to bring the warp through the heddles, through the reed and then tie on the front beam ...then I am ready to try to weave on the rug loom.. . .I have a rag table runner warped on it right how as a test.. . .once I get it figured out . .. we will move on to denim rugs . .. .Yeah! ! ! ! ! !

I'll post some progess pictures over the weekend :)

Wow! 2011 . .. .is here already!

Let's get serious about this blogging stuff . .. . there are so many fun little things that happen on the farm - I'll try to share more often.

This has been a good weekend on the farm.  I spend some time in the barn yesterday grooming Nigel - one of our rescue bunnies - he was a bit matted . .. even though the temp was cold. . .I stayed warm working with him at the grooming table in the corner of the barn with a cup of hot chai tea . ..

Started today with warm homemade blueberry muffins and hot chai tea. .. .seems the theme of the weekend is hot chai tea . .you'd think it's cold outside!

The crazy chickens were out in the snow today . . .you would think they would not like the snow and usually they do not. . ..but they seemed to be having a blast.

I did get some spinning done. . I am spinning "Autumn Leaves" for my friend Roxy.  She is working on a shawl.  The rovings is 100% alpaca - Buster Brown and some threads thrown in for color.  Here is a picture of Bruiser "helping me" spin . ..and a picture of buster.

Happy Spinning!

 Bruiser                                                                                                              Buster

Farm Fair Update

We had our final meeting to finish planning the Fall Farm Fair at Diane's farm this coming Saturday.  Everything is shaping up great.  We're planning to get out some Christmas decorations for the farm store - it should encourage people to shop for Christmas gifts in the farm store.

See you at the farm fair - I'll post pictures after the event!

Free weekend!

This weekend was my first weekend this fall that I had no shows and I was planning to work on getting the llama barn ready for fall.  I spent some time a couple weeks ago working on the cobwebs and cleaning.   Just as I was about to head to the barn yesterday. .. the phone rang. . .it was mom . .. no suprise . . but what she had to tell me was a surprise. ..she woke to find the tree trimmers, she had hired, in the back yard working - w/o notice.  We were expecting them on Wednesday . . needless to say, this changed everyone's plans for the weekend. 

We spent most of yesterday working at mom's - but I did come home mid afternoon to get started on "barn stuff" . . .and Jeff is back at Mom's today . . .to cut firewood and I am headed out to the barn to take down all the light fixtures (12 of them) so I can run the globes through the dishwasher and replace the burnt out lights - about 50% are out . .. so the llamas are gonna need sunglasses when I replace them all.

Off to the barn for me . ... some cleaning and hauling. . .with a mid-day break . . .to head over to Mom's to sample the chili she put on the the tree trimmers.

Make sure to check our Fall Farm Fair link on the left ..that is our next big adventure and it is right around the corner.

Happy Fall!

Fall Farm Fair

See page link on left for Fall Farm Fair details.  Are we CRAZY having an outside event in November. . .. .No, just optimistic that the weather will be wonderful!  The farm store will be heated and we'll adjust the other activities as needed if the weather is not perfect. . . .but we ordered perfect weather . .. so it should all work out fine.

Where does it go?????

Time!  Where does it go??? It just disappears so quickly I wonder how I used it.  My last post was August 9 . .. well certainly, many things have happened around the farm since then. .. . like. .. the turkeys are no longer in the backyard. . .they are in the freezer!  That should be quite interesting. . .we're going to try one of the turkey's at a family gathering Nov. 6

The ducks. .. they have also moved on . .. .right on over to LaOtto Indiana. . . .they seem to have adjusted well and are living with Matt and Jamie.

We have attended two HUGE fiber shows since my last post.  Diane traveled to Yellow Springs with me in September.  It was a great show as always - sales were down a bit - but still worth the trip and we had a great time going to dinner with the Fiber and Firearms Society girls!

This past weekend, I attended the Fiber Expo show in Ann Arbor - again a great show - but sales were down - still worthwhile - but I am wondering if this is a trend.  We sold mostly finished items at a fiber show . . not so many rovings. .. . I find that odd.

We are planning a Fall Farm Fair at Diane and Terry Perkin's Farm on Nov. 13 - I will post details in a separate post.

Well, looks like I am back on track posting and will try to not let time slip away and keep on posting.  Look for a new "On the Needles" section later this fall - so you can keep up with what I am knitting.

Farm Harvest

One day harvest

Our garden might be small, but it sure has been mighty!  We have been harvesting yellow squash, zucchini and Sun Sugar tomatoes for over a month now!  The heat and lack of rain did some of it in, but the green beans, the winter squash and the tomatoes are still going strong.  Each week, we continue to sell about a dozen bags of cherry tomatoes at the farm market in Stryker - it's three hours out of the week that I can just sit and chat and not feel like I need to hurry to get something done.

So far, we have frozen green beans, made Salsa, Pasta sauce and Chili base.  We also got a bushel of corn while we were in MI and froze that.  So far, it looks like our winter table will be filled with the taste of Summer!  We've also supplied many neighbors and friends with lots of produce.

Tomorrow is the Black Swamp Spinner's Guild Natural Dye Day - we'll be outside in the heat - but it should prove to be fun and educational.  Natural fiber dyeing is definately much more precise than the way that I dye yarn. . .you know, when I dye yarn . . yup - got hot water, pour in some dye, add a glug of vinegar and put in some yarn . . .. and wait.  Lots more planning goes into Natural dyeing - more on my next post.