The Woolen Rabbit

G is for "Glorious Days"...April 20, 2006

After completion
Come new beginnings,
To gain strength,
Renew the root.
Den Ming~Dao

The days here in the mountains have been outstanding!  Days full of sun and warmth.  I am amazed at how big my perennials are getting.......and the best part of all of this is.....we escaped MUD season, which is no small feat in the mountains.....whoohoo!!

The little verse above speaks to me of cycles......beginnings and ends.  My life has been full of both.  I am now working full time at home.....a new beginning, but an end of sorts as well, as it has not allowed me the luxury of keeping up with my favorite blogs or some of my fiber pursuits.  The craziness of it all is starting to settle down, so hopefully I will have some free time to get reconnected again and renew my roots.

Part of the cycle of my life has been finding special forever homes for my little ones.  4 of the puppies have found wonderful new homes.  Little Tommy, pictured to the left was the first to leave.  Oh how hard it is to say good bye.  Tommy is a puppy so full of personality and expression and his new family adore his little antics.  Thankfully, most of my puppy buyers keep in close contact with me and send us pictures.  Hannah is always grateful for those pictures and she lets the new owners know that she expects them........soon and frequently.....LOL

3 of the puppies will stay now for at least a few months.  I will watch these girls grow carefully and assess them daily as they romp in the yard.

All 3 of the girls show promise, each for different reasons.  I will most likely only keep 2 of them though, as it will be difficult to give all 3 the proper attention they need to develop into confident adults.  In saying that though, keeping the 3 girls here for now, helped ease the sadness of saying good-bye to the others.  They are enjoying the warmth of the days and the romps in the yard with the older dogs..............ah....life in the day of a little puppy girl is good right now.

Fiber

I have managed to squeeze a little spinning time in over the last week.  The first picture showing the singles on the bobbin gives the best representative of the color.  I was so pleased with this yarn.  I was striving for laceweight for a shawl, and I think I have come pretty close.......slightly heavier than fine laceweight, but close enough for a shawl.  I should end up with over 800 yards and 4 ounces of this wonderful corriedale.  I can't wait to get it on the needles ;-))

G is also for gifts.......

In closing, I wanted to share the cute little tape measure that Jean of the Scottish Lamb, sent to me recently.  Jean had offered to send me a copy of the CD from our mutually favorite American Idol........ Tayler Hicks.  Taylor personally sent Jean a copy and gave her permission to make copies for her friends (how cool is that??).  Jean tucked this cute little gift in with the CD.  Not only is she generous.....she is talented!  Thanks Jean!!!

Denmark Sheep Festival.....Apr. 14, 2006

Hard to believe that this year's sheep and wool festivals are gearing up.  It feels like winter just got here and now it is gone.......

Today was the Denmark Sheep Festival in Denmark, Maine and what a good time was had by all!

Albert and Victoria, donned in their matching sailor suits greeted each and every guest today, as they entered.

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I had contemplated skipping this event as I am so behind in fiber production, but then again, I was looking forward to a day away from my office to enjoy the company of the many fiber friends I have not seen much of this winter.

Hannah, being the blossoming fiber artist that she is, came with me to help man our booth.  She is such a great little helper and what a fun way for her to learn about counting change and a little math.

One of my favorite displays this year belonged to my good friend, Michelle Delucia's of Sunshine Dream Farm.  See that nice big bag of white roving to the right???
Well, it came home with me ;-)).  It is some fabulous corriedale top from Michelle's sheep, Calvin.

A funny story.......As Michelle and I were weighing out her Corrie top, a few people were standing by watching us.  A little later, a woman was shopping at my booth and saw the corriedale roving that I had for sale, and she was very confused.  She asks.."Why would you buy corriedale from the other booth when you have some here??".  I explained to her gently that Michelle's roving was top and mine was carded roving."  Hmmm........I think she though I was crazy.......LOL.

It's been such a long time since I have purchased any yarn or roving, as I have just been so busy in my real life job, that it was a treat to be out shopping again in the fiber world.... and of course I couldn't just stop at the lovely corrie top, as this scrumptious orange silk was screaming at me..........and then of course, the little sheep pottery coffee mug, made by my friend Julie of Kick The Moon Farm came along for the ride home :-)

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All in all, it was a great day with wonderful friends.  I visited with such nice friends as Sherri the traveling NETA correspondence, Helen our NETA leader, and the down-home spinners.

Even Hannah had a fun enough day that she was willing to smile in a photo with the felted flowers that she created thru out the day.......and any day that happens......it is a GOOD day!

A Little Bit of Knitting......Apri. 4, 2006

Imagine a sculpture
You work on every day.
If you stop, the beauty
Will slowly go away.
Den Ming~Dao

Little by little, inch by inch, my little shawl grew.
I love Dao's verse above. It is easy to let life consume us when we get busy.  Even though life has been crazy busy lately, I have managed to knit a little bit every day.  The little shapely shawl was a fun shawl to knit.  A great first lace pattern for anyone who is tempted to give lace a try.

Pattern: Judy Pascale's Shapely Shawl
Yarn:  Judy's wonderful silk/merino singles

I added a row of crochet picot along the edge with a bead at each point, to give the shawl a bit of weight. 

Moving right on to the next project.........see, I really am trying to be true to one project at a time, although, I may sink down Cassie's rabbit hole this week.

This is the silk yarn from Judy that I am sampling for her.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like working with pure silk, as it really does have a different feel......but I like it very much.  The shine is incredible.  I was going to do Barbara Walker's Frost flowers, but I didn't like the way it was knitting up, so I changed gears, looked through a gazillion patterns and settled on the Trellis framed leaf lace scarf featured in the Winter 2004 Spin Off.  The pattern calls for size one needles, but I jumped up to a size 7, so that the openwork would really show.  I will add the beads called for in the pattern along the bottom of this as well.  The silk is very light and will definitely need the added weight for a nice drape.  It's working up quickly, so perhaps if I do trip in that rabbit hole, I will be finished soon enough to start something new.

Puppies
That bittersweet part of raising puppies is coming.  This little boy, who we call Giorgio will be leaving for his new home in a few days.  He is going to live with a close friend of mine in Pennsylvania. Hopefully he will be in the show ring in a few months.  His new owner is flying in to spend a few days with us and then will head back home with this little guy on Friday...we will miss him.  The other 2 boys will be heading off to their new homes on Sunday. 

As many litters as I have raised, it still is hard for me to say good bye to the babies.  The only thing that makes it a little easier is seeing the joy on the faces of the new owners that will love these babies up.  They certainly do bring smiles..........don't they?