Missy B

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

As of today I am no longer with Tactile. Tactile will now be owned solely by Maia. I am going to revive Sincere Sheep and build that business back up again.  I am also planning on continuing to teach.  A big thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years. 

Also changing is Mr. J!  This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago to mark his turning 9 months.  He can now get himself from laying down to sitting and has almost figured out crawling.  Just because he can't crawl very well doesn't mean he can't get himself around though!  He is very proficient at rolling, scooting, pulling, and pushing as means to get where he wants to go.  His new found mobility means that we are going to have to majorly reorganize the house.  It's good motivation to do something that was past due anyway!

Even with all his changes Joaquin continues to be a happy, funny baby who we are enjoying getting to know better each day.

Since I haven't posted in forever I actually have knitting and spinning to share with you but I will save it and post it over the next few days.

As hard as change can be, I am excited for what the future holds.  I will put more information up on where to find Sincere Sheep as soon as I have it all set up!

Busy, as usual!

I think I just need to accept that this is how my blog life is always going to be: a flurry of activity then silence. I don't seem to be able to do it any other way. Perhaps it's not ideal but it's better than nothing. Anyway, as the title says, I've been busy (as usual!). This is me right before we started unloding at California Wool & Fiber Festival. Hard to believe that was just over a week ago. We borrowed my dad's Westfalia and crammed it full of wool and then used it to camp out behind the fairground for the weekend. We could have fit one or two things more in there but not much. The good news is that we did come back with less than we arrived with. Honestly when I saw all the things we were going to try and put in the van I had my doubts as to if it was going to all fit but fit it did!

Overall it was a great weekend. We were next to Jeane who is the owner of Elemental Affects and Morgaine of Carolina Homespun was next to her so we had a great time chatting and covering for each other while we were teaching classes.

Here is one side of our booth. Overall I think that we sold more fiber than yarn which is great. It reflects the increase in interest in spinning that I think we are all seeing. While at the fair I taught 3 classes total. Two of the classes were drop spindle classes and one was a color spinning class on the wheel. I had a total of 8 students and half of them were kids. It was very heartwarming to see kids getting into spinning and they were doing a great job. Between the classes, being a vendor, the setting up and breaking down, and the camping we were very tired by the time that we finally pulled out of Booneville and headed home. So tired infact that I came down with the cold that is going around once I got home! It's starting to go away now but boy did it feel like my nose was stuck on perma-drip there for a few days.

I was really good while I was at the festival and didn't buy much but this fleece had to come home with me. It is the reserve grand champion fleece from the wool show. It's from Merry Meadows Farm and it's a 3" Cormo fleece that was coated. It's just a dream! It's only about three pounds so it is not a huge undertaking either. I'm leaving soon for SOAR and then from there I will head to NY for Rheinbeck so I would like to get it washed before I go. I'm not sure if that's going to happen but a girl's gotta have goals, no?

My desktop computer still isn't up and running so I am using flickr to resize my photos so I will try and get caught up here in between getting ready to out of town for more than two weeks!

CWFF - Part 1

The California Wool & Fiber Fest in Boonville was a lot of fun.  Nancy Finn of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks (no website) is the main organizer and does a great job.  It is still a relatively small show because they have only been putting it on for the past 4 to 5 years and I think all of the vendors felt that their sales could have been a bit better.  I felt like a lot of the people coming into the building were looking at us like another exhibition hall rather than as vendors.  The great thing is that a lot of people were very curious about spinning and asked a lot of questions.  I am working with Jeane of Elemental Affects to try and get classes going for next year.  Should be fun if we can pull it off!

The above picture (click to see it bigger) is just 2/3 of the fleeces there for judging.  Connie (my business partner) and I would wander back and forth from our booth to listen to the fleece judging comments.  That was one of the great things about the way this event was set up.  Everything was right there.  On Saturday and Sunday they had shearing demonstrations in the hall and an angora bunny shearing demonstration as well and it was very fun to be able to hear it all going on.

As you might  imagine I wasn't able to escape the lure of greasy fleeces.  I bought a small white cormo fleece, and am splitting a larger charcoal gray merino fleece with Connie.  I also bought two half pound bags of two different white merino fleeces.  Connie has the gray fleece and is bringing my half to me on Saturday so I figured I would take pictures then of all the greasy locks of wool that followed me home.  We have a guild class on skirting, evaluating, and washing wool that Connie and I are facilitating this Saturday so I might get some fleece washing done as well.  I can't wait to start playing with them!

  I also bought a 4oz ball of oatmeal colored merino roving from Jean Near and spun it up as I was talking to people about spinning.  If you click on the pictures you will notice that my spinning is not that consistent.    I think this is partially because I was talking to people a lot while I was spinning and not really focusing on what I was doing.  The other reason is that I found the roving to be a little neppy and still had some vm in it which made it harder to get a consistent single.  Plus I was spinning over the fold and I think if you spun with a forward draw you might be able to control the quality of the single a bit more.  Excuses, excuses.  I bought 4oz of her "black" merino roving as well and I am going to try and spin a more consistent single out of it.  Regardless of how fuzzy the yarn looks it is still incredibly soft.  I have sensitive skin and this has a zero prickle factor.  Jean has beautiful merino fleeces that are covered and come in many colors.  They are a bit pricey but very high quality fleeces for the handspinner.

  The other major accomplishment was that I took this sweater up to Boonville with me and managed to get one sleeve finished and started the other sleeve.  This is a sweater that I started at least a year ago I think and put it in time out when I picked up way too many stitches for the sleeve and discovered it after having knit quite a bit of the sleeve.  I think I was just so excited that I wasn't interested in a reality check.  The design is my own.  It has short row bust shaping and the sleeves are knit top down using short rows to create sleeve caps.  It was knit in the round from the bottom up and has small vents at the hem and at the cuffs.  The yarn in my handspun from a polwarth fleece.  Of course I don't have enough yarn to finish the second sleeve so I have been flicking open more locks so I can spin up some more yarn.  I am really excited to finish this sweater right in time to start wearing it.  That so rarely happens.

More or Less

  We're moved in more or less and I am happy to report that life is slowly getting back to normal.  I have been knitting throughout out this whole process.  I took this picture before we moved but I don't have a more recent picture to show you.  I am just about done knitting the green cardigan for my mom.  All that is left to knit are the front bands.  The hat on top is a hat for my husband.  He requested a gray hat.  I couldn't knit just a gray hat so I added a small strip of my handspun, indigo dyed yarn at the bottom.  I also almost have one of the striped socks that my dad requested done.  Just need to do the toe.  So I am feeling good about my holiday knits and things are looking good that I will get a good chunk of them done with plenty of time to spare.  What a change!

  I am also working on this sample for my LYS out of Rowan's Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply on size 3 needles.  It is going along nicely and is great for when you need something mindless which has been all I have been able to handle during the whole moving process.  I am still working on my log cabin bedspead but haven't done much on it recently.  My in-laws still aren't here so I still have some time to get it done for them to use while they are visiting.  Worst case senerio I turn it into a lap blanket.

  I completely forgot to mention that I went up to Gold Country and went to "Camp Pluckyfluff".  It was great.  The location is stunning and Lexi is a very relaxed, supportive teacher.  Here is one of my yarns with felted bobbles that I made beforehand.  I spun this yarn on an Ashford Country Spinner that I borrowed from Claudia at Deep Color.  It actually has a large enough orifice that I could fit the bobbles through with a little pushing and pulling.  I lent my yarn to a friend and just got them back so I haven't had a chance to take a picture of them all yet.  I'll post them when I do.

  On the other end of the spinning spectrum this is what I finished right before the Pluckyfluff class in order to free up my bobbins.  The two on the bottom are cotton the big one in the middle is 3-ply and the bottom is 2-ply.  The top is some dyed polwarth from Rovings that I spun very fine and then navajo plied.  I have more in this colorway to spin this was just a bobbin's worth.

For all of you in Northern California: Don't forget that this weekend is California Wool and Fiber Festival in Boonville.  We will be there as vendors.  Come say hi!  It is also the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Fair so there will be lots to do for those who aren't addicted to fiber as well.

  Here is Taz tucked in bed.  He did this all by himself and is actually very normal for him.  Often times he has his head up on the pillow as well.  Such a silly dog! 

I'm off for Boonville tomorrow so I will update next week.  Wish us luck and I hope I don't fall over on Monday from exhaustion.  Have a great rest of the week and I hope some of you can make it up to Boonville!

The Dixon Report

  The weather was lovely at Dixon and we had a great booth outside, across from the sheep to shawl competition, where we could enjoy the delta breeze that came up each afternoon.  Next to us on one side was Jane from Yolo Wool Mill (who is now giving tours so give a call if you are near by) and on the other was a family of weavers from Oaxaca who live in Sacramento.
  You can see in the loom they brough with them and behind the wheel of their spinning wheel.  Hung are some example's of the father's weaving.  I talked with the father and he told me that the use both synthetic and natural dyes.  He uses mostly mohair for rugs that are ment to be hung on the wall because he says that it doesn't get infested with bugs the way that certain wools do.  But if he is making a rug to be walked on then he uses wool because the foot traffic seems to repel the bugs.  I think that only the father wove.  The daughter wound the yarn onto the bobbins for her dad to weave.  He used a boat shuttle and stood at the loom to weave.  It was neat to get a chance to talk with them throughout the day.

  During the morning I was able to work on the log cabin blanket and a few more panels compleated.  I haven't worked on it since I got back from Dixon because it has gotten big enough that I haven't been taking it with me out of the house which is when I get most of my knitting done.  Julia of Knitting History came by and introduced herself while I was working on it though.  She has a picture of me working on the blanket as well as a picture of our roving on her blog.  I also got to meet the Sheep Shepherdess and found out that her daughter is at the Culinary Institute in the town where I live.  I teach knitting one night a week in town so she might come and join our class for a little knitting.  Always fun to make the world a little smaller!

  I realized I never show the stuff I dyed at the last dye class I assisted with at Deep Color in July.  We looked at both cellulose fibers and iron as a color changing mordant.  In the picture the rovings from the top to bottom are merino/silk in osage and logwood grey and mordanted in alum and iron, merino/silk in lady sage in alum, banana fiber yarn in myrobolan as a mordant and dye and then over-dyed in indigo, silk in cochineal and madder mordanted in alum and iron, merino/silk painted with osage, logwood grey, cochineal, madder and mordanted in alum and iron, hemp in osage with alum mordant, and merino/silk dyed in ? (something yellow) and over-dyed in indigo.  Below the rovings from left to right is cotton fabric in cochineal and madder with alum, silk fabric in cochineal with alum and iron, silk fabric with osage and logwood grey with alum and iron, a silk cap dyed in something (I'm drawing a blank, sorry).  Not pictured is some bamboo roving that I also dyed.  Just a word of advice if you are going to dye bamboo roving it comes apart worse than superwash roving so handle it gently and be prepared.

In other news, I've decided to start holiday present knitting.  I figured, why not?  So I asked the people closest to me if they had any requests and have started gathering my supplies.  For some, I already knew what I was going to make them so they didn't get to weigh in.  At least not at this point.  Maybe if I finish what I have in mind then I might ask them if they have any requests if I still have time to make them something else.  I wonder if this means that I will actually get it all done and on time?  Perhaps it is still just wishful thinking but I am going to give it go regardless!

Have a great weekend!  To all of you dealing with the heatwave take care of yourselves and drink plenty of water!

Oh Thank Goodness!

The fog rolled in last night and it has finally cooled down here.  They only way I got through it was parking myself in front of the fan, with a glass ice water and a popsicle.  I know it is hot just about everywhere in the N. hemisphere right now but that was way too many days of 110 degree plus weather.

   While the heat zapped most of my energy and motivation I did manage to make plum jam and strawberry jam with my mom last Sunday.  Perhaps it had to do with the fact that my mom has air conditioning? 

The plums are from our tree in the back yard.  My mom also has a plum tree in her veggie garden and we normally use plums from both trees in the jam but this year with the wacky weather only our tree had plums.  Here is the haul before we were even finished.  I think we ran out of sugar before we managed to use all the plums up.  We also made strawberry jam from berries from the coast.  Best berries I've had this season and the guy cut us a deal on a flat of "jam berries."

Later in the season my mom and I will put up dill pickles and dilly beans.**  We planted 22 cucumber plants and 9 dill plants up in my mom's garden just so we could make dill pickles this year.  I have 6 green bean plants in my garden but I don't know if that is going to give us enough to make the dilly beans and we may have to get some from the farmer's market.  Canning is hot work and always takes longer than you think it will but it is fun to do with other people and what you produce is certainly worth it.

  Another huge reason I am happy the temps are going down is that we are going to be a vendor at Lambtown in Dixon and it is always hotter there than it is here.  I actually have to finish washing some rovings I dyed last night.  I had a minor mishap including madder, the 100+ heat, and some green roving that meant I had to dye some more rovings last night.  I take pictures and explain what happened as soon as I have a spare moment and some good light.
Meanwhile I have been knitting this log cabin blanket out of our yarn when I haven't been sweltering.  It seems to be ridiculous to be knitting a wool blanket in July but it would be nice to have it done by September.  You see my in-laws are coming for a visit in September and they are always cold.  So I figure I can knit a wool blanket for the guest bed and if they get cold (even though it's not cold here in September) they can use it.  I will have this with me at Lambtown.  Stop by and say hi and see it in person.  We are going to be right outside the building where most of the fiber vendors are right across from the sheep to shawl contest. 

Think good thoughts for me this Friday and Saturday so I don't turn into a big puddle while trying to sell wool!

**An aside:  My father worked as the editor of a gardening magazine for quite a few years when I was younger and two of the funniest stories he told me about his time there where the two cover headlines that almost went to print before somebody noticed the double entender.  The first one was "Putting Pickles Up Yourself" and the other "Mounting Staghorn Ferns"**

The Modesto Report

  Overall we had a great experience at the CNCH conference in Modesto.  It would have been nice to have had slightly higher sales but other than that I can't complain.  I think that most vendors felt that they would have liked higher sales as well so we weren't the only ones.  The hard part about the CNCH conferences is that they are every other year, the change location each time, and are put on by volunteers from the hosting guilds.  When you have an event that only happens every other year and changes location you have to do twice as much marketing to let people know about you.  The next conference is in Sacramento and it sounds like the people in charge get that they have to do a lot of marketing, and it is in a bigger city so that should help.

But as I said, overall it was great.  Connie and I set up and broke down quickly, had a good time manning the both and generally got along really well.  We had lots of positive feed back and lots of people took postcards.  Mainly what we sold was our pin roving.  This isn't completely unsurprising considering that this conference focuses more on spinning and weaving than knitting and our yarn is considered knitting yarns even though you can weave with it. 

The pictures are from when we were just about finished setting up on Friday.  The colors of the conference were blue, gold, and green hence the drapes in yellow and blue.  Frankly I thought that the colored drapes made it hard to really focus on what was in the booths but by Saturday I was used to it and barely noticed them.  But looking at these pictures it is obvious how bad they were.

A good time was had by all and I can't wait to do it again.  In the mean time we are actively working on being able to sell from our website so I will let you all know when we have got it all figured out.  I took the last two nights off and only knit a bit.  Soon I am going to have to get into it again and dye some more roving for our next event which is 'Spinner's Day at the Farm' up in Healdsburg on June 10th.  Unfortunately Connie is going to have to go it alone to that event because I am going to be in Colorado for a high school friend's wedding.

I have some knitting to show you and my purchases from the conference but I haven't taken pictures yet so it will have to wait until tomorrow!