My Local Yarn Shop

Setting up for the Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl has been a good exercise in Getting Stuff Done, but also a bit of a morale boost.  Things are so different now without setting up at the big fiber festivals.  Those events created a business structure that I apparently really needed.

Lately I sometimes catch myself wondering if maybe it's all over and it's time to retire...but I have a flock of sheep that will stay here until the ends of their lives.  They can keep paying into their pensions...if their shepherdess would just do her part.  

I don't know what the sheep really understand about their lives here.  In my anthropomorphic brain I want to think they know that their wool products and pictures and inspiration keep the hay stack tall and grain bins full.  That that is their job.  I'm betting some of the retirees like Krista and Short Round understand things are different here.

Not doing my part to use that wool and their inspiration to help support them feels almost disrespectful.  Like not standing up for a friend or family member.  

In the 'olden days', when I'd get home from a show each night I'd always report in.  I'd tell them which fleeces sold or who's roving was popular that day and who got asked about or came walking into the booth made into a sweater or shawl.  It was nice to be able to do that last Saturday after our first Fiber Crawl day.  We'd all had fun and done a good job.  No one wore a sweater ;-D

Surely I can pull this back together.  I still have some good ideas...and obviously lots of wool.  Let's wash some wool and pull out the hand cards and combs or roving and spin some pretty yarn and knit hats and mittens and scarves and sweaters from our favorite sheep.  

Let's make felted sheep and wreaths.  Get out the drawing pad and create some new rug patterns and learn how to dye bright colors and make rugs and pillows and wall hangings and tote bags.  And send each other some handwritten note cards.  

This will also be known as quit messing about cleaning the house and mowing grass and working in the gardens and show up more for your more fun job that somehow always gets pushed to the bottom of the list. 

If you'd like to come out to the farm this afternoon/evening, we will be open from 4:00 to 8:00 today*.  Bring your wheel or current project and a box of vanilla wafers for the sheep if you'd like.  We can sit and spin or play with wool or just relax and watch the sheep.  If you'd like to mow grass or clean the house, that's always an option too ;-D.  We'll have wine and cheese starting around 5:00.

It was pretty toasty yesterday and the porch was very pleasant.  It's also covered in case we get rain.  The barn is also a fun dry spot and there's nothing like listening to rain on a barn roof, especially after it's been so dry.  We have plenty of chairs and room to spread out.

We also have plenty of good company on the porch.

Pottery from Flat Creek Wool and Pottery.

Morgandell Reds brought over some beautiful California Red batts.

Beautiful yarn from Tring Farm.

Lamb Camp Legacy yarn, I (heart) Kentucky Wool bags, note cards from here.

Washed wool.

Plenty of roving - in the Wool House and also set up in the barn.

The new Lamb Camp Old Friends yarn.

Look at these fancy wool balls made from Pinto's fleece!  You don't have to have a fancy fleece to pay into your pension.  All wool can have a job and if you are using these balls for dryer balls, I'm pretty sure Pinto will add some extra bounce :-D.

Folk art farm cards

I've pulled out six more skeins of Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn.

Two walls full of fleeces.  

If you are looking for your first start to finish fleece, a specific breed for Shave 'Em to Save 'Em, or a favorite sheep you've followed for years, let me help you pick one out.  You can even meet the sheep who raised the fleece.

Do you have questions about how to wash or process your fleece or what to make?  Just ask.  I love to talk wool :-).  

Honestly, I love to talk sheep and wool and farming and spinning and knitting and weaving and I'm happy to share what I've learned along the way and I love to learn what you have as well.  Come out this evening and grab and glass of wine and some cheese and pull up a chair.  

We are also open for the Crawl this Saturday from 11:00 to 4:00.  Really, we can be open anytime.  Just email me to make an appointment.  Maybe in the future I'll start having an actual open schedule.  Let's get busy!

The 2024 Calendar And New Note Cards

I remember back in grade school being asked to figure out how old we were going to be in the year 2000.  2000 was sooo far away.  We were going to be in our 40s!  2000 is now just as far away...but the other direction.  I can't believe we are preparing for 2024.

Once again we are offering a farm calendar for sale.  These calendars started as just a fun way to share some pictures with friends and family, but gratefully grew into a "bake sale" way to help our small flock of sheep support themselves.  

I had a good group of photos to choose from this year and I was drawn to the quiet peace in all of them, especially sweet Maggie, who starts the year.  I find her picture especially meditational and I hope it creates great ripples of calm throughout the rest of the year.

There are of course pictures of the horses and cats and I've already shown a preview of Bea's month.  There is a special guest in the B Garden and two of the biggest characters on the farm each get a feature as well and a couple other beloved characters round out the year.

Once again I added a short story to each month and even added one of those new fangled QR codes to further tell the story on one month.  Lots of mini pictures fill in the blank spaces and add extra fun and  tell further mini photo stories.  

I've had a few requests for note cards the last two years.  I'm hoping that's a sign that letter writing or at least thank you notes might be coming back in style.  I wonder if that's a holdover from the Covid lockdown as I'd had no inquiries about farm cards in several years prior. 

I love getting notes in the mail, but have been guilty myself in not sending them.  This year we made a set of note cards to go with the calendars and I really like the idea.  I hope you do as well.  Maybe pick a favorite picture (with the story on the back) and drop it in the mail to a special friend and make their day :-).

It is still unrealistic for a small farm to "upgrade" to a fancy online shop site so once again we are doing the old time ordering system where you send me an email letting me know what you'd like and where it should be shipped and I'll include an invoice and return envelope in your package.  Add an extra note if you'd like :-).  

Those notes are how I learned that several of you don't turn the calendar pages until it's time so that each month is a surprise.  I love that idea and now do that myself.  Even though I made the calendar, by about March I've forgotten who comes next.  I love being surprised.

That spoiler factor is also why I've put all the boring text up here and hidden the sneak peek calendar and card shots below.  Don't look if you don't want to!  Or you can peek...but goreallyfast ;-).

2024 Equinox Farm Calendar $25.00  

Companion Calendar Note Cards $12.50 

Buy together and save $5.00  $32.50

Extra note:  Auntie Reg and I have made up some fun 'make your own' wool wreath ornament kits.  Since the calendars are so late getting listed and the holidays are at least a month early this year (right?) there could be a postage saving overlap if anyone is interested.  I'm going to do my best to add them to the website today and share them to the blog tomorrow.

Sweet Maggie always checks in with me when I'm in the barn or barn lot.  I've mentioned before about there being some animals who look at me and she is one.  There is a difference between looking and watching.  Everyone watches me (I might have treats ;-), but only a few really look at me (if I don't have treats ;-).

She has also taken on the role of night guardian now that Maisie has moved up front to Easy Breezy.  I frequently find her resting comfortably just behind the barn at night, keeping an eye and ear to the back.  Sometimes her brother will sit with her, but he's not quite as dedicated.  She's a good sheep.

Of course Murphy got his own month.  If you'd have told me even just a year ago that I'd be featuring him in the calendar, I'd have laughed.  "Yeah, right.  That obnoxious pain in the butt?  Not a chance."  What an interesting sheep. That story line was probably the highlight of the year. 

I hope enough folks know how to use a QR code by now.  I'm so behind on technology that I figure if I know how to use it, most everyone else does as well.  If not, the box links to that amazing story about the sheep coats.

Plenty of sheep, horse and corgi shenanigans :-)

And everyone can spend an entire month staring at Archie sleeping.

"Dis my home."

I wanted to get a good high resolution picture of Pinto jumping in or out of the arena, but after an early spring drought turned into a rainy summer of good grass everywhere and Pinto didn't need to go looking for greener pastures I was worried that he'd outgrown his fence jumping days.  Not to worry :-).

This picture got moved into the calendar at the last minute after I received so many comments about it needing to be there.  I love seeing "That's a calendar shot!" throughout the year.  I had not even considered this one as I was afraid it wouldn't print well, but everyone was right.  It's a perfect choice.  It made a lovely note card as well.

If you've made it this far, you get one more story...and it's a funny one.  Tim has a machine that creases and folds items like cards.  When he brought home the box of card sets there was a loose bundle on top of the box.  "That's not a complete set.  One of the cards got jammed in the creaser."

Yep, it was Maisie's ;-).

I'm Hooked!

Sheepmom and her rug hooking cousin partner up to create beautiful rug hooking material... They asked if I would be interested in designing some patterns for them. Sounded like fun. It was!



I started out with six basic designs. You'll recognize Handy and Aria, The Adventure Chickens, Miss Ewenice babysitting Keebler and Graham, Betsy, a few honey bees and "the neighbor kid" at the bird feeder.

Where's Hank? Iris? Comby? Ewen McTeagle? Maybe something with spinning or knitting? I need to do some actual test hooking to make sure I'm not way off target, but if all goes well, I'm really looking forward to designing more. You might say I'm hooked!

Originally I thought I was just drawing plain black and white patterns. When I did a test colorization though I thought they might make cute note cards too and also an interesting way to present the patterns. Saint Tim ran a couple copies for me and I really like them. I'll have a few sets packaged up for sale at the fall Kentucky Wool Festival next weekend.

Next weekend?!?