Fibers 4 Ewe

We have lambs!!!

2011-04-20T22:33:00.002-04:00

Billy woke me up bright and early this am. He came running in saying you have to get we have lambs out there. I flew out of bed threw on a pair of jeans, sweatshirt and my boots. All I can remember is Billy's face he looked so worried and at a loss of what to do it was kind of funny. I went out and brought them up to mama, she was a little confused, but by the end of a very long day we finally are doing OK and seem to be settling in.

I had a really hard time taking pictures because they kept following me, but here they are :)

Twin ram lambs. We have not named them yet because we need to decide after our other ewe delivers who we are keeping and who is going. However, Beth already has at least one name picked out ;)

Here is a shot of one of them that was temporarily sitting still. One is more black and the other I think will be a gray.

Dye Studio

2011-04-17T22:48:00.002-04:00

The other day when I was dyeing I decided that it would be fun to share where I do all my dyeing. I have converted our enclosed porch into my little dye studio. I is nothing fancy, but i works for me. I love all the light I get in there and I also love the fact that the kids can be outside playing and I can keep an eye on them while I'm getting something done at the same time.

It looks like a mess, but it is a organized mess :) Both tables are preped and ready to go.

This is roving that is all spun out and ready to be dyed, I'm doing this one some semi-solids.

Here you can see that I use old milk jugs and make my most common colors by the gallon. The less common colors I use small soda bottles.

Here is some of the of the fiber that I dyed drying on the clothes line.

Finally, maybe you saw this big pile in the first picture. This is my done pile. Well its kind of done.... its done in the sense that its all dyed and pin drafted, now it just needs to be weighted skeined and tagged,lol. This is one job that I can't wait to give the girls when they are a little older ;)

Shearing

2011-03-28T09:28:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was shearing day. I was so excited to see what I got. I knew Charlie and Beauty's fleece would be nice, but I wasn't Sure about Lulu's. As a lamb we had her shorn to soon and then it was to short the following year as well so this was the first real fleece from her. Plus we would be able to tell if the ewe's were bred.

Of course we picked the coldest day ever this spring to shear. It was probably in the 30's. Poor Beth wanted to watch so bad, but she was freezing. I felt really bad for Colin though because he couldn't really wear a jacket or gloves while shearing, brrrrrrr.......

I was glad to see that her fleece was a good length. She has such a nice dark chocolate brown fleece.

Normally I am patient enough to wait till I get to the mill to skirt fleeces, but I really wanted to check them out and they are awesome!!!!

Here is a close up of charlies locks, they are so soft and fine, yum........

Here is what I got from Lulu. I was glad to there was a lot more prime and seconds than there was trash. I think after I wash it and card it, it is going to make some really nice yarn. It is so fine and springy. I'm thinking of blending this with some white and then over dyeing it so the brown will show through and the white will be dyed. It would make a really nice tweed.

The best part of the day was that we found out if they were bred....

Yay!!!! Both ewe's are preggo and will be due mid-late April. Hopefully it will have warmed up by then.

Charlie Yarn is all done !!!!

2011-03-26T23:05:00.001-04:00

So Charlie is my whether, he is 3/4 BFL 1/4 BL and his fleece is to dye for (haha I couldn't resist).

I decided that I finally wanted to do something for me so I dyed it a variegated red. It seriously seems like I have been spinning this FOREVER!!!! I'm not sure exactly when I started spinning it , but it was sometime over the summer. I just seemed like there were always so many other things going on......well you know how it is. Anyway, it spun up like butter :).

Here it is all done:

I can't wait to start knitting it up. I'm going to knit it into this I just need to finish my daughters sweater first ;)

Welcome to Our New Setup

2011-02-28T20:50:00.000-05:00

You may be wondering why I changed up the website. First, I have always had a hard time getting the website to do what I wanted and second, I wanted to try and make it more "Finished" looking. I decided that because website was not letting me do what I wanted I would move it over here where I can have everything together and have it look the way I want it to without pulling my hair out. I think having everything easier to access will help my problem with updating the wait list as well posting more blog post of the things going on at the mill as well as other things that are going on here. If you have any questions please drop me an email or feel free to give me a call.

Also the wait list is just starting to build up for the spring season so if you are planning on adding your name please let me know and I can add it asap.

Boo Boo

2010-10-04T21:55:00.001-04:00

So I have a few post that I really need to get up here, but the only one that is going to happen tonight is that I got a little boo boo the other day. I was getting the spinner going and got my finger caught in the gears and lost the top of it. Thankfully it is my right index finger (I'm a lefty) so it could be worse, but it still hurts and I can't get it wet which kind of get in the way of washing wool. I'm going to give it a few days and see what the Dr. says before I try too much. Anyway I will post a few more fun things in the days to come.

Preview for Joyful Rose

2010-08-24T23:34:00.000-04:00

Here are some shirts that I am working on for Joyful Rose. I really like how the Silk screen came out. I think I might do some in pink for my girls.

Please ignore the dark picture, its late and I'm tired and forgot the flash. The little one was my sample befor I did the real thing.

I am planning on putting these together tomorrow and can't wait to see what they look like :)

Summer Morning

2010-08-17T21:49:00.000-04:00

The other morning I decided to take the camera with me and the girls while we where doing chores. First of we have Beth taking care of her chickens, I have never seen kid love chickens as much as this kid does. They all have names and the first thing she does in the morning is ask if I fed them and got their eggs yet. However, I wish she would keep them in their coop. They poop EVERYWHERE not to mention they like everything in the garden as well.

Here she is showing Cocoa (she named them) to Emma and telling her to be careful or they will "beak you" if you get to close.

Then their is our two resident sheep Lulu our Ewe (female for non-sheep people) and Charlie our wether (fixed male). Lulu is a natural colored sheep and Charlie is a Blue-faced leicester X border leicester cross and his fleece is to Dye for (hahaha, I need to take a pic of his fleece that I dyed up for a sweater for myself, YUMMO). I never realized how friendly sheep are when they aren't n a huge heard.

My goal is to get a few more next year, but we'll see, dh isn't as excited about that as I am ;). I really want to get a few Cormo's.

OK so here is our very sad, sad garden that needs lots of love and care that I just haven't had time to do. I always seem to do really good in the spring, but then by August I've had enough with the weeding. There just never seems to be enough time in day and that is always last. Anyway hidden in there are lots of cucumbers, tomatoes (50+ plant), squash, I had a watermelon, but the chickens got to enjoy that :(. There also the other normal stuff to peas, beans, onions, spinach, chard,etc....

Here is our tomato haul:

This has been Emma's Breakfast lately. This kid lives for tomatoes, no wonder why I craved them so much when I was preggo with her. I think she is wearing more on her shirt than she is eating.

good thing I did some canning, man I have to remember to take more pix of things, I am horrible at that. I'll get better I promise.

Lastly this is our newest member of our family, another rescue. We named her Purl and she is a sweetheart, except I will be much happier when I can trust her not to pee in my house. She is much better than when she first came, but still really likes the carpet upstairs.As you can see she is very comfortable here :), little stinker.

Well I guess that is how most our summer mornings go.

Knit Fabrics

2010-08-08T14:54:00.000-04:00

Here is some of the fabrics that I have on had for knit dresses for some of the customs that I'm doing.

Good Weekend

2010-08-08T14:35:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a great family weekend. Yesterday the girls and i had a playdate a friend and her daughter came over and it was great. The girls all played and we got to sit down and do some spinning and have some gilr talk :) I was bad though and for got to put my shiny new camera to work, oh well next time I guess. After they left Billy got the roof to the shed all finished up so its not leaking anymore while the kids and I tried the electric the Amy brought over for the sheep. The sheep didn't like it too much either they went right through it, grrrrr. After a few tries we gave up and instead put it around the inside of their regular pen so they could get used to it and hopefully this works. They did OK today, they were a bit unsure of it but didn't try and test it so we will see what happens.
Today was a nice relaxing day. We did some weeding in the morning and some computer work on the Dandy-lions Etsy store, while the girls played. I am so lucky that they for the most part how well they get along.
Here are the 2 monkey's reading there books :)

Some new colorways

2010-08-08T14:14:00.000-04:00

WOW!!!!! I guess I'm not so good at this blog thing, its been like a year. I real am going to try and get better, I swear. Maybe I just think my life isn't that exciting or maybe I am just to tired at the end of the day. I think its a combination of both. The mill is doing great. We tried our hand at adding spinning, but I have decided to keep to roving. With no employee's it just was not feasible to add the spinning and keep my wait list down. I want to offer the fastest turn around I can so I am going to do what I love the best and that is custom roving, pin drafted roving, and batts as well as dyeing including handpainted fibers. Here are some recent photos for some hand painted roving that are/were on my Etsy store.

This one is one of my favs- Strawberry Fields :)

Holiday Feast another one that spins up totally different than it looks as roving.

This one doesn't have a name yet, but I love it ;)

intro to Dandy-lions

2010-08-08T14:04:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome to Dandy-lions. I've always known how to sew, but it wasn't until I had my girls that I realized how much fun it is. I love how all the "new" patterns aren't that PIA tissue paper but real paper. Another awesome thing is that you can get lots of patterns emailed you. Some people might not like this because they have to tape them together, but I love them because they are right there on our puter and you can print it out as many times as you like for all the different sizes. Here are a few of the many things that I've made.

I have had some local interest in some of the items that I've made so I've decided to open up an Etsy Store. I am hoping to have it up and running by Monday maybe even earlier, but I'm not pushing it since I have lots to do this weekend to get it ready to go.

2010-07-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

Please remember I am happy to share my pictures with people, but please use the common courtesy and ask first. Many of my models are friends and family so I would like to know where they are going. I'm sure you all understand. Thanks

2010-07-22T23:23:00.001-04:00

Twitter?????

2009-09-03T11:46:00.005-04:00

OK, I signed up for twitter thinking that this would be easier to do since I'm not the best blogger. I really don't find it easier though because I can never say what I want to in that little bit of time. I don't think what I'm doing every minute is very exciting either. I would rather post here when I have things going on or something exciting and new to tell about. If anyone reads this let me know what you all think of twitter. ....

Creating roving vs. batts

2009-03-04T08:29:00.006-05:00

The past few weeks I've been trying to concentrate on getting products together for the up coming CT sheep and wool festival. I have a bunch of handpainted pin drafted rovings done so I thought that I better make up some batts as well to have some variety. For some reason the batts have been harder for me artistically than any of the rovings that I do. I played around yesterday down at the mill for a while and it seems that the big carders are a little trickier because they card the fiber TOO well:). The colors that you want to keep a little seperate tend to get a little more blended than they would if they were on a drum carder. I tried doing layers, but I didn't like the fact that you couldn't see all the colors that you were getting and photographing a batt like this would be really hard to say the least. The next thing a tried was kind of mixing up the colors and the fibers. I got a much better result this way because you could see all of the colors that you were getting, but there is still some work that must be done.
My next plan is have things a little more planned out than I usually like to do. I am going to take a couple of colorways that I usually do as handpainted dye them up in indiviual sections and then try and make a few batts this way. Normally when I make batts I do it because I'm have lots of random colors laying around and don't have a real particular order that things go onto the carder. I've never really pre-weighted the fiber before making batts, but in the long run this will hopefully make things a lot easier because there won't be anymore guessing. It may also bring some new creative thoughts to the whole process and who knows, maybe some new colorways will be born.

Colorways

2009-02-09T07:18:00.005-05:00

Lately I have been dying like a mad women. I'm so excited to offer so many new color ways to both my processing customers as well as my roving and yarn customers. The best part of it is that I am having a blast doing it. The whole creative process of creating them is just so much fun, even my 3 yo like to get involved with picking out the colors with me. Each colorway is available in somay different ways too. I can do it in pin drafted roving, batts, and yarn and each version of the same colorway comes out so different.

Tropical Rain

Numa Numa

Apple Orchard

Rainbow

Yeah, we've got yarn!!!!

2008-12-27T07:47:00.005-05:00

The spinning is going much better now. The yarn is coming out awesome. I learned that the biggest part of spinning was the pin drafting. If you don't get that just right you won't be doing any spinning. Here are a few pics of what I done

Its been way too long since my last post

2008-11-13T23:24:00.004-05:00

OK, I can't belive how long its been since I wrote anything in here. So much has happened at the mill and at home. The mill is very busy. We bought a spinner over the summer and it has been absolutely crazy since then. The learning curve on this thing is HUGE. Way bigger than I ever thought. I am no longer advertizing it because of this. I am just so far behind that I just don't want to promise people anything until I know how fast the turn over is going to be and right now there are no garuntees on when I can get things back to people. As soon I get this figured out I will hopefully be able to put it back up on the website. I will post some pics of yarn that I have done hopefully by this weekend. There is definately more science and calculations behind the whole process compared to that of the roving process.

For Sale or trade Singer Knitting Machine

2008-05-24T19:54:00.015-04:00

I've decided to sell my knitting machine because I just don't use it enough. I bought it a few years ago, but I just don't have the time for it. The kids, mill, spinning, hand knitting, and weaving have taken over.

The knitting machine is a singer 700 with ribber that uses punch cards along with many other assesories. Here are pics asking $300.00.

Here is the main bed

Here is the carraige

some of the tools and the ribber

Instruction books

Here are some more of the small pieces

CT sheep and wool festival

2008-04-27T13:36:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was our first festival and we had a great time. The weather was a little chilly, but there was no rain so thats all that matters. I had a great time meeting and chatting about fiber with everyone. It was so nice to finally put a face to everyone that I see on Ravelry as well as people that have emailed me from my website. A few changes that we need to make for next year is that we need to post a sign that we are picking up fleeces to process and make sure that people know that we are a fiber mill that has processed all the fiber that they were buying. Other than that I think that we did a great job. Here are some Pics of the booth.

The weekend from heck

2008-03-09T21:29:00.003-04:00

Well it all started Friday night. I was really tired for some reason so I went to bed early. DD E got up a few times, but that is nothing out of the ordinary. I woke up with a sore throat, runny nose and achy all over and to top it off it was pouring buckets out. I had a guild meeting that I was looking forward to going to, so I went to that while DH watched the girls. Well only about half of the people came (probably because of the weather) so I stayed for about half and then I decided to go home and have a nap while the girls slept. The girls never slept and both of them had noses that were gushing and were so tired they were just crying over everything. I couldn't wait for bedtime. Well it came, but they were up all night coughing or crying. DD B new thing is to tell us she needs to go potty so she can get out of bed (did that like 3X). I was ready to cry myself, I just wanted to go to sleep. Sunday came, again no naps today either. I am so ready to go to bed, but at the same time I know as soon as I get comfy I will be awoken by one of them. Well hopefully tomorrow goes better than the past few days.

Sherman the turtle

2008-02-24T21:32:00.007-05:00

OK I actually found time to take pictures of Sherman the turtle that I'm knitting for the girls. Like I said before I got the pattern from http://www.knitty.com/ and I found it through ravelry.

The body of the turtle is on the left and the legs are on the right. Below is the shell in progress. I decided to be different and use purple and natural grey for the colors. My plan is to make one turtle MC- Purple CC- grey and the next turtle the other way around. This is if I have enough yarn to make both.

Surprise long weekend and one less in diapers !!!

2008-02-23T14:56:00.004-05:00

We had a decent sized snow storm this past Friday so we got a nice long weekend that is great. I love these extra moments to have fun with the kids and get some knitting and spinning in while the kids are napping (like right now). DD- E is finally getting on a routine and is having a morning nap and an afternoon nap. It seems like as soon as she was able to start eating solid her whole personality has changed. She now sleeps through the night and is happy when she is awake. Her happiness makes everyone in the house happy because now I can finally put her down and get something done she is getting so big.

The other good news is that DD - B is finally out of diapers. I mean I can't really complain she is only two so it could be worse. I am just so proud of her. She is so independent and already wants to go potty by herself. Here is a picture of the girls that we took the other night when they were being silly.

Right now I'm working on knitting a stuffed turtle for each of the girls. I got the pattern from ravelry, they are going to be so cute. I am using my fiber challenge fiber to make them. Our guild gives us 8 oz of fiber to create something ( this year it is coopworth). I've got one of the bodies made and I'm working on the last leg. The other thing that I am working on is spinning up some 75% coopworth 25% Alpaca for a sweater that I want to make for myself. Well I'll post some Pics of these things latter I am going to do a little knotting and spinning while the kids are sleeping.

Not much time to do anything

2008-02-03T12:47:00.001-05:00

OK I know its been awhile since I posted. Since the Baby has been born it just seems I can't get anything done. She is so different from my first. The first was so easy. You could put her in a swing and she would be happy for hours. This one on the other hand. I can't seem to put her down. If I do she only let me for about 15-30 min and that is with her complaining the whole time. Now we have more trouble coming as well..... she won't take a bottle and if she does it is only from me. We are going to be in big trouble in a few weeks when she starts daycare. She is such a momma's girl. Don't get me wrong I love cuddling, but I do need to do other things as well, like go to the bathroom with out her crying.
Needless to say I have not been able to get much spinning in or anything else. The good news is that it can all wait and sooner or later she will be off playing and I will be able to sit down and do something. Right now I'm just enjoing the moments that she isn't crying. She is getting so big so fast. At 2 months she weighed 9.5 lbs and at 3.5 months she is already 15 lbs!!!! SHE JUST DOESN'T STOP EATING! I can't imagine how big she is going to get when she starts eating soilds.

3 Projects finally completed

2007-12-30T14:16:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to reduce my unfinished project corner. I've managed to finish three more projects (I only took pics of two though). The first was my nephew's bulldozer hat I made on the knitting machine. It was royal blue with caterpillar yellow bulldozers on it. My sister says that he loves it, he won't go out of the house without it on.

The next project is my daughters hat. This one was done from scratch. I wash and dyed a blue-face fleece that I got a while ago and processed it at our mill. I added some angelina to the roving as well, just to give it a little sparkle. Then I spun it on my Kromski Minstrel and knitted it on the knitting machine.

I think it came out really cute. You can't really see the little sparkles in the pic, but you can when your holding it.

The third is also a hat. I was making it for my husband, but I kind of like it myself so I'm not sure who will be using it more. This one is also out of blue-face, but a natural colored dark brown fleece. I spun it up a while ago and didn't really know what to make, but when I saw a pattern in the spin off magazine this yarn called out to me, so I figured I would give it a shot.

It came out a little on the big side, but I'm sure it will tighten up when I wash it so I'm not worried about it. I like it because it is nice a light compared to the machine knitted hats. It has a lot more give to it.

Now that I have finished all of these projects I can start working on something new. I made up some batts of assorted alpaca and wool seconds from the mill and it think I am going to try and spin some of this up since I never spun from a batt I think that I will be fun to try. The batts are supper soft even though they are from seconds. The alpace that they come from are super fine alpaca so there really isn't any bad fiber on them. Well wish me luck..... I'l let you know how it turns out.

What a great X-mas!!!!

2007-12-26T09:29:00.000-05:00

This year was so much fun. Our 2 yr old finally had an idea of what was going on. She kept telling us that she wanted Santa to bring her a red toy and a blue toy:). She ripped through all her presents so fast (along with everyone elses as well).

Here She is ripping through one of her gifts as happy as can be.

Here I am probably telling her to slow down just like my parents used to tell us to. It's kind of scares me that I really do sound like my parents when I swore that that would never happen, hahahaha.

Since start up a new business and all money was rather tight this year to say the least. So I asked my husband for only one thing which was a Tom Forrester Spindle and my wish came true. I absolutely love it. I've never spun on a spindle so I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it works great. I got a light weight (29 oz) to spin sock weight yarns on. I can't wait to spin well enough to use it in a pair of socks for myself.

Here is a pic of the top view and on the right is a pic of the first spindle spun yarn ever!!! It didn't come out to bad, but I have a long way to go before it will be consistant.

Not Enough Hands

2007-11-29T16:26:00.002-05:00

I have decided that I just don't have enough hands to do all of the things that I want to do. I have so much to do at the mill everyday just flys by and before you know it is time to go home. Besides processing everyone elses fiber I also want to start dying and blending my own rovings to sell. The last roving that I made sold as fast as I put them up on my website.

Here are the rovings that I made that sold right away. The orange one was my favorite, I was trying to get the fall colors of the leaves around here in CT and I think I did a pretty good job.
The other things that I want to do is spin for myself, weave, try wet felting, and most importantly is to spend some quality time with my two young children (2yrs and 1.5 months) it just looks like it would be so much fun and you could do so much with it. I have to many ideas in my head and I just don't have time time to do all of them. I have come to the conclusion to just do as much as you can everyday and eventually I will have been able to try everything.

Moisture is Key

2007-11-27T11:14:00.001-05:00

I have found out over the past few weeks how important moisture in the fiber and the air is while processing the fiber, ESPECIALLY ALPACA. I have been working on a huge order of alpaca for what seems like forever and as soon as the cold weather came along the fiber gave me the challenge of my life. It was flying everywhere and sticking to the equipment like you wouldn't believe. The static was so strong the the metal it was almost impossible to take it off.
To solve the problem we got the biggest humidifier we could possibly find. This helped the air and then to keep the fiber moist the most import thing was to keep it covered. After it was washed and dried I sprayed it with a mist of water and bagged it up. Then after I picked it I sprayed it with the correct amount of antistatic and placed it in bins for 12 hours before carding it. Finally after carding it I spray it with water again and stacked the barrels with the roving in it to compact it and made sure that the top barrel was covered waited another 12 hour and then I was able to pin draft it without it falling apart. This was all very frustrating while I was learning, but I'm glad everything is working again.

The First lessons learned

2007-11-11T15:19:00.002-05:00

The mill is getting busier and busier. I've had lot of beautiful Alpaca that I've been working on and a lot more that was dropped off in the last week. When we were opening we were told to be prepared that people were going to test me with their worst fiber before dropping off there good stuff. So far I don't feel like this has been the case at all. All of my customers so far have given me some really nice fiber to play with.

Since the mill has been open there have only been a few issues I've had and a few lessons learned. The first thing is how different fleeces are even among the same breed. The next is learning what grease content to soap ratio are needed. There were a couple of fleeces that appeared to be washed and grease free until the were dry and picked and then they all felt greasy again and needed to be re-washed. Finally the newest lesson which has not been completely solved is the static issue. The mill has dried out so much in the past few weeks that the static is out of control. We ordered a misting system, but I'm not sure that this has solved the problem completely. It is increasing the moisture content, but at the same time is not completely evaporating before it is falling and then makes everything that is below the misting heads all wet. I need to find a middle ground where there is moisture in the air, but doesn't get the equipment all wet. Hopefully this week we will have this sorted out.

Baby E... is here !!!!!

2007-11-11T14:53:00.002-05:00

It seems like it has been so long since I've had a chance to write. A lot has happened including a new addition to the family. We had a baby girl Oct 16 at 8:13 AM. She was 20.5" long and weighed in at 7lbs 6oz.

As for her older sister that is 2, she hasn't been too jealous. She does the usual like get mad when the baby is on my lap or when she wants something and I can't jump up and get it. She really does love her though. When she goes to school that is all she talks about.

Yeahhhh its finally here !!!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-17T10:29:00.001-04:00

All I have to say is yeah!!!!!! All of the equipment arrived yesterday and everthing looks great. Now it all just has to be put together. Keith had to travel this weekend, but will be back on Tuesday and spend 10+ days here with us putting it all together and training us on everything. I am just so happy that I can finally get everything moving forward. I never thought that I would be excited about going to work, but I really am. It is going to be so fun and a new adventure.

More Delays...................

2007-08-09T12:06:00.001-04:00

OK, I feel that I've been very patient so far, but now I'm beginning to get frustrated. My Equipment was supposed to arrive yesterday, but was turned around at the Canadian border. Why me????? As of this month they decided to make some electronic filing a mandatory process instead of voluntary and of course Textek only had the hard copies of my paper work and nothing electronic so they would let him come into the states. Now I must wait another week in order for them to process the paper work so he can come down here. I am so tired of waiting for everything. As crazy as it sounds I just want to get to work and have a regular daily routine. I just hate having to rely on everybody else to get things done. I just want to start doing my own thing and not have to work around everyone else's schedule. I am going to try and start washing all the fiber I have that is waiting, but I need Billy (DH) to make me some larger drying racks for me, so again I need to wait for him to do this. Well I guess we will see what next week brings us....... Let's keep our fingers crossed.

To good to be true

2007-07-29T20:52:00.001-04:00

Well I guess things were going to smoothly. Unfortunately, my money for the equipment is slower to arrive than orinally thought therefore the equipment is going to be delayed a week, it now is going to arrive next Monday. However, I guess things could be worse, right? Also this gives us more time to work on the mill space. The water is going in this week and hopefully my husband will have time the middle of the week to put the A/C and finish putting the plywood on the walls. Once those things are completed then we will be ready to go. We moved the office over there on Friday so now I also have plenty to do over there. I need to organize all my stuff, put shelving up so I can separate my husbands company and the mill (I take care of all his office stuff too). Doing all this with a 1.5 year old helping me will probably take all week anyway. I'm sure the week will go by fast with all the things that need to be done.

Mill Update

2007-07-12T21:46:00.001-04:00

There is only a few weeks left until we will be open for business and things are starting to come together. We decided for now the best thing to do was rent space in town until we get going. We found a great space in an old woolen mill that is rich in fiber history. We thought that this would be really neat to have a new mill inside of an old mill. By doing a lot of the work ourselves we are saving on some rent as well. Today we got all the plywood up and put a coat of paint on 3/4 of it. Being 61/2 months pregnant during all of this I can only do so much, so I need my husband to paint the ceiling (I'm a little clumsy so I don't dare go that far up a latter). This weekend our plan is to go on the biggest shopping spree to home depot (what guy won't love this; buy tons of stuff and his wife won't complain) to buy the sinks, faucets, buckets, shelving, and so many other things that I can't think of right know because I'm so tired.
The one thing that we did forget to do is take before and after pictures of what the space looked like. It has changed so much with just a coat of paint. I can't wait to see what the mill is going to look like when it is all done. I am going to try and get down there tomorrow and take some pictures that I can't post here and also on my web page so people know what the building looks like when they come to visit. Well I must go, My little girl will be up bright and early ready to play.

WOW its been a long time!!!!

2007-06-27T19:34:00.001-04:00

How things have changed since February.... Right now we are one moth away from opening up the fiber mill. So far it has been so exciting. I can't wait. We are suppose to get our first piece of equipment (the pin drafter) in a week or so and then the rest will be built right here on site the end of July. Once we are in the building (next week or so I hope) we will have to make a giant trip to home depot and get lots of supplies. We need to build a picker room, drying racks, shelving and I sure lots of other stuff that we haven't thought of yet. Well I'm going to attempt to attach this to the mill's website.
As for my projects that I have going... I haven't had to much time to work on them. I did finish weaving a blanket for my sister and have been able to spin a bunch of yarn, but I'm not quite sure what I will be doing with it yet. I will post some pics as soon as I get them off the camera (I'm kinda slow when it comes to that).

Life Changes

2007-02-12T10:13:00.001-05:00

Today is the day that all the job postings are up here at work. Everyone is going crazy looking for a job and I am here just doodling away. I am not planning on staying here any longer. I can't deal with the one hour commute any more and if the IVF work who is going to hire someone that is pregnant and didn't meet expectations. But this is OK because if I'm pregnant I won't be able to work and if I'm not it will give me the opportunity to start my fiber mill!!! I would so much happier I think if I was working for myself doing something that I love to do. Plus opening the fiber mill I would be able to get an agriculture loan for the building and this would benefit Billy's company as well. I really look forward to this it is just a matter of when it will be.

Handbags

2007-02-10T22:13:00.001-05:00

This week I finally finished my felted bags. They came out so good. I lined them and put a pocket on the inside. I'm thinking of selling them, but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in them.

2007-02-08T13:21:00.002-05:00

Here is some of the yarn that I have for sale. It is handspun 100% merino and is sport weight.

2/8/07

2007-02-08T13:07:00.000-05:00

Lots of things have been going on in my life.... I just found about 2 weeks ago that my company is moving my job to CA. I don't plan on moving which has made me really think about what I plan on doing with myself. I don't think I was planning on staying here in this job forever so in some sence it is a good thing for me.
I am thinking about wether or not to start my own fiber mill or not. It is a big investment, but the demand is there and I have been doing my research. I think that it would be perfect for me.

1. I have this cazy obsession/passion for fiber ever since I started spinning.
2. I love to be in control and what can be better than owning your own business.
3. Plus it would be on our property so I can work and spend time with my daughter too. can't ask for anything more than that.

I guess I am going to do it it is just a matter of when. I'm going through IVF right know so if it works and I'm pregnant I might have to wait a little while.