We have a new addition to our family!  Thanks to my good friends at Serano Alpacas, Jasper has been added to our herd.  He is a year old and incredibly beautiful!  I can't wait to spin some of his fiber next summer.  We will be shearing in the spring of 2011 so I will have to wait until then.

Things are moving ahead on the farm.  I finally decided to let our Great Pyr 18-month old puppy Bella out of the goat pen where she's been kept the last couple weeks.  She spends her days in the pasture with the other animals, then back to the goat pen at night because I don't trust her not to dig elephant-sized holes in the newly planted front yard.  I let her out mid-morning today and by early afternoon she had a nice sized hole started.  My daughter promptly went out and retrieved her by loudly proclaiming "naughty!".  Bella got up and slowly walked to the goat pen.  Guess she knew what she'd done.  It was almost funny.

I hope to get back to some spinning soon.  I've got the dark brown yak carded with the bright red tencel nepps started on one of my spindles.  I'm planning on spinning the rest of the plain yak roving into another single on my wheel, then plying the two together.  The fiber is so incredibly soft and short it's taking a little longer than usual to get done.  At least I can take my spindle with me when I have to sit and wait anywhere.

I finished the wool and silk felted scarf I had been working on.  It turned out very pretty.  I just might have to keep this one, since I don't have anything red!  It was easy to do and maybe I will make up some kits to sell so you can make your own.   I've got my tencel nepps dyed red and plan on blending a few of them with some beautiful dark brown yak fiber.  Maybe this week.

Summer is winding down, at least in north Idaho.  We had a dust and wind storm yesterday as a cold front dropped in for a visit from the north.  Lots of fires fanned by the swirling winds.  It would be nice if we could get some rain too. 

We had our front yard somewhat landscaped over the past few weeks.  I had a water problem in the back of the house I hope is finally solved.  After the yard was planted with new grass, we had the front porch screened in.  We may not be able to use the porch much longer this summer, but next summer it will be so nice not to fight the moths and bugs every time you go outside.

Our sky is normally so blue, but this picture was taken right in the middle of the wind and dust storm.  You can see how gray the sky was yesterday.  The inside of the house is now covered with a fine brown dust that seeps into every crack and crevice.

How busy can one family be?  We've had eight baby kittens for several weeks now.  Three different litters, all with no momma kitty.  Its so sad how things happen that way.  Last week we were asked to take in another single baby.  He is very thin but so sweet.  He's all white with one green, one blue eye.  My daughter believes he is completely deaf.  Not surprising with the eye colors.  She's finally got him on the right track eating and drinking on his own.  Quite an appetite!  Then this week she was asked to take another litter of five.  They are about three weeks, mom was killed by a coyote and they are all being bottle fed every couple of hours.  She has such dedication and love for these little beings.  After they are a few months old she returns them to Priest River Animal Rescue shelter to be adopted.  Here is a picture of one of the white Siamese babies.  Three white and one gray.  Kitten anyone?

While she is busy with the kitties, we are also having a portion of our property landscaped.  I'm so excited about that.  Its something that's been needed for several years.  The guys work hard and are doing a wonderful job.  I can't wait to post a picture once its all done.

So ... who has time to spin or weave?  I got out some beautiful, soft Yak rovings this week but wanted to dye up some tencel or cotton nepps in a contrasting color before I spin it up, but just haven't had a minute to do it.  Hopefully after Labor Day things will calm down and I can get some 'fun' stuff going on again.  We're going to Blanchard Daze tomorrow, parade then a craft type fair.  Always a good time with good food.

Carding is not hard ... my 10 year old niece carded her first batt all by herself.  I showed her how to do it, gave her some hunks of fiber and turned my back to work on something.  Pretty soon she had this beautiful batt ready to remove from the carder!  Beautiful.  This is a blend of alpaca, mohair locks and some odds and ends of different wools.

This has been a very busy month and it looks like there's no end in sight.  We went to the Art on the Green last weekend.  Didn't buy too much but its always so much fun.  I love the street craft show and the food.  We've had so much wind today we can't get much done outside.  The lawn and flowers are drying out but not much we can do.  Hopefully it doesn't last much longer.

I have a carpenter working on the front porch, screening it in at last.  At least we will be able to sit outside without being attacked by moths and mosquitos.  Also have a landscaper scheduled to help with the drainage situation, which is a winter-time worry.  The ground freezes, then the snow melts and no where for some of the runoff to go.

Finally got the Cotswold locks dyed and spun up.  They were blended with some dyed nylon fibers, then spun thick / thin, and the single was plyed with some rayon yarn.  It turned out very pretty.  The pic is before and after carding.  I did use the picker to get those little locks nice and separated.  Still have an entire bag of it to go.

Also finished the green wool singles and plyed them with some hand dyed silk hankies I bought a couple years ago at the NWRSA when it was held here in town.  I had spun the hankies already and the colors just matched so well.   Never throw anything away, even if you think you won't be using it, not that I would have thrown the silk yarn out.  The weather has been beautiful and warm.  Went to a church BBQ last night, it was so fun with the live music from our own praise band.  All the summer foods including ice cream.  The kittens have been so sick but are doing much better.  My daughter takes such good care of them but its certainly is a full time job. 

What a busy time for us here on the farm.  This week we got firewood delivered for next winter.  We had the wood dumped in a big pile and still need to stack it close to the house so we're not hiking through the snow to get an armload.  We get it cut and split to size by the guys that we buy it from so there's not a lot more for us to do except stack.  Also got our second load of hay delivered this morning.  We still need around 15 bales for the alpacas this winter, then start working on the goat's hay.  They don't eat the same kind with the goats doing better with some rougher types of grasses.

I finally got the merino / pygora yarn finished up this week.  Here's a pic of the finished skein.  I'm not sure how much yarn there actually is, I will have to measure it later.  Today I'm putting the gray Cotswold locks in the dye pot.  I love the color and texture of that wool and think a very light blue with a little lilac might be pretty.  Lots of the gray will be left undyed to give it the variegated look I love so much.  More rain today, so no yard mowing for a while.

Wow, now that summer is here the weeds have gotten about knee-high around here.  Mowing is a full time job.  But so pretty and green right now.   If I can just get control of this situation ...     I bought another loom from some friends daughter.  Its a Mighty Wolf by Schacht, also came with a bench, bobbin winder, spinning wheel and lots of other goodies.  No place to put it right now but may end up keeping it in my daughter's shop, which is in the next room to my studio.  It came with a huge bag of yarn and three white garbage bags of wool right off the sheep.   You never know what wool is like until you start going through it, but check out the length of this stuff.  I believe it is Australian Polworth, which a web site said it was Australia's original type wool.  They are known for their beautiful merino.  This stuff is just about as soft.  I've hand washed a bit and Love it.  Here are some of the locks before washing.  Pretty greasy stuff, but it doesn't smell bad and washes up fairly easily ... very hot water with a little Dawn detergent, let it soak for about 30 min.  Then lift it out, more hot water for rinsing.  One batch I had to wash twice, but its certainly worth the effort.  It dried and I can't decide to dye it or not.  We'll see.

We had a very big day yesterday, visiting the walking marathon for Priest River Animal Rescue, several yard sales, and finally ending up at the Treasures on Foxwood outdoor vendor sale in north eastern WA.  They had the most delicious huckleberry ice cream!  Mostly we just walked around looking at all the goodies for sale but on the way around I happened upon a nice lady with a little two-shaft loom for sale.  I just couldn't pass it up.  She is local, very nice and interested in weaving so hopefully she will be able to come up to the farm and we can try out the little loom!  Its very cute but no name on it.  Could be an old home made model, but some parts seem so skillfully crafted.  I'm anxious to try it out.  Here's a pic.  The rain continues to fall this spring, now summer.  It is beautifully green here and no need to water the lawn.  The goats found out how to get the fence apart and I found them out on the property several times since last Sunday.  Ordered some very cool fasteners from Premier that are so ingenious ... spiral shaped that go from the top to the bottom of the 16' cattle panels and there is no way the little stinkers can get through any more!  woohoo.  My garden is safe once again.

This has been a very busy two weeks.  We finally got the hand painted yarn warped on the little Dorothy loom.  My friend is taking it home to weave on.  The yarn turned out beautifully although its a little fuzzy, especially for metal heddles.  Whatever it turns out to be (scarf, table runner, ?) I'm sure it will be gorgeous.  Here's a pic of the yarn just started on the loom.  We have had rain nearly every day all spring.  Today is sunny and warmer so out to the yard for some much needed yard work.  I have veggies to plant and flowers that are dieing in the little pots that sure need planting.  The puppy continues to be a nuisance and loves to find my new plants and drag them the around the yard until they are completely out of the pot and spread over the grass.  The riding mower has been in the shop for the 4th year in a row at the start of spring, so we've got so much to do!  I'd love to get a different one, but hate to spend that much money.  More rain forecast for the next three days so we better get as much done today as possible.  No fiber fun for me, at least today.  Darn!

Last Saturday was the Barn Bazaar and it rained the entire time.  I think we even had some hail / snowflakes.  It was crowded but we moved from booth to booth at a more rapid pace than usual.  Ron and Judi from Serano Alpacas in Post Falls were there with their beautiful yarns and fibers.  It was their farm my black alpaca Oso Negro came from.  They have been such a huge help to me I can't say enough nice things about them.  My friend from Olympia is still visiting with us and we have been planning a weaving project for her.  She will weave it on my little Dorothy Loom, being able to take it home with her.  Its nice and portable, suitable for carrying with you, so she can take it to weaving classes.  Yesterday we dyed some wool yarn she will use for her first project, maybe it will be a scarf or several table scarves.  With a 21-yard warp she will be able to decide exactly what she wants.  We handpainted a warp I had already wound before she got here, in all the colors of her house.  Here is a picture of the individual counted skeins being painted.  And another picture of it drying to show how they look after 'cooking' and drying.  A huge difference.  Today we will get the loom warped and hopefully will have time before she leaves next week to do some good practice sessions.

This morning is clear, sunny and cold.  We've had so much rain lately everything is green and fresh.  Today we are off to eastern WA for the 2Women Barn Bazaar.  I love summer!  So much to do, so many places to go.  I hope the rain doesn't return until tonight.  Just received some of the most beautiful wool from LaTeaDaDesigns.  They are white Cotswold locks.  Marti sent me a sample of some silver gray and of course I couldn't resist ordering that too.  The plan is to blend them with something else but not sure what right now.  Then spin it up and do some handpainting on the yarn.  I've been looking for some silver or light gray for quite a while so I can't wait to get this.  I also went to Paradise Fibers the other day and bought some nepps in cotton and tencel.  This should blend well with other fibers to give the handspun yarns a nice tweedy appearance.  Not sure when I will get to these as I have so many projects going on, as usual.  I'm hopeful to get the painted warp on the Herald this coming week with the help of my friend who will be here for another couple of weeks.  We took Pete, our little foster kitty, back to Priest River Animal Rescue shelter yesterday.  We all hated to see him go, he is so cute and very gentle and sweet but my daughter picked up four more motherless bottle baby kitties to take his place.  She will be very busy for the next month or so, that's for sure.  We're taking them with us today so she can feed and care for them. 

I've been dyeing silk scarves and yesterday finished a big project.  On one of the scarves there must have been something that prevented the dye from working properly so it ended up with light colored spots.  I have covered them up with a painted design of a fish with bubbles, it turned out pretty well.  Not sure if anyone else will like this, but what can you do?  I had a friend and her family over last weekend to learn spinning and it was so much fun.  They did a good job and took spindles and some hand painted wool home to practice on.  I love teaching others to do the thing that I love so much.  Another friend is coming to spend some time here on the farm and wants to learn to weave.  Woohoo!  Have I got some beautiful warps we can dress the Herald loom with while she's here.  We have been friends since high school and I can't wait to see her again.  Finally getting a handle on all the spring yard work.  I had to hire someone to help weed and she's doing a great job!  Everything is starting to look much better.