Today I am Signing Up

Argh.
Thought I would get to the free Sheep Shearing Clinic held annually at UConn in April. Well, seems it was in February this year! So, no more fooling arouond. Today I am joining the CT Sheep Breeders Association, Inc. for $20 dues fee and will get myself on a mailing list once and for all!

Our Guild really looks forward to this group's annual Sheep and Wool Festival, the first big one of the spring each year. April 30, 2011 is the date we'll be driving down to Tolland CT high as a kite on fiber love. You can bet there will be documentation of this outing to follow!

This is a photo taken at a previous festival. One of my personal favorities. Love the raw material I find at festivals.



Sheep to Shawl, Llama to Pajama 2010

Save the date for Sheep to Shawl, Llama to Pajama 2010, a free festival on Saturday, October 23, 2010, 12 noon to 4PM, rain or shine at Green Hill Park Farm in Worcester. Watch a llama get a haircut, learn to weave, meet some sheep, try spinning, and knit some stitches! Enjoy games, music, giveaways, and more. Learn about fiber farms, fiber artists, and fiber businesses found throughout Central MA. For all ages and wheelchair accessible, this fun outdoor fest is sponsored by the City of Worcester and VSA Massachusetts, and made possible by a grant from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation. For more info, visit the event facebook page or call (508) 757-4646.

Off to NOFA's Summer Conference

Four of us from the Guild met last night to discuss our presentation -- For the Love of Sheep -- at the annual NOFA Summer Conference in Amherst MA this weekend. On Sunday we'll give 1 1/2 hours of demonstration, discussion and encouragement to anyone interested in working with fiber. Betsy is our workshop leader, as she has had many opportunities to give demonstrations . . . and, she's good at it! This is the largest venue we will have appeared at as a guild. We've got the fiber map, a new business card, and plenty of samples and stories.

Pining for Signs of Sheep

It's December and so unseasonably warm that it makes me think I should be outdoors tracking sheep with my camera. Spinning and knitting are the typical activities this time of year. I've been getting to some of it, as I've been home much of this fall, regrouping on personal and professional levels. Lots of loss to absorb, and new directions to focus on. So, nothing like fiber to comfort the mind, body and soul during a stressful time as this.

Here's a photo taken at Overlook Farm/Heifer Project, Rutland MA.

Thanks to my friends in the Wachusett Spinners Guild I have twice-monthly meetings I plan to get back to. I miss their company very much! For four or five hours on a Sunday afternoon we enjoy spinning, show-and-tell of new discoveries, and tasty eats at one home or another. I haven't seen my gang since our early September natural dyeing workshop with Ellen Stone of Rhode Island. It was a superb long day at Dorothy's Shetland sheep farm, cooking up goldenrod and marigolds, experimenting with indigo, and learning about traditional dyeing practices as we perused Ellen's vast fiber sample rack. Our group has also done much work toward producing a Central MA Fiber Map, and I look forward to seeing where that stands and how we can share it with the general public in the near future (2010?).


In the interim my friend and teacher Christina at The Sheep Shack has kept me inspired with new yarns from Berroco and I've already whipped up some neat new projects. And, my spinning wheel has seen some action again just in the last week or two, as I've been working to ply the wool we dyed in September.


Early this fall some exciting news came in. Wearhouse, an upscale retail store in Great Barrington MA, expressed interest in selling my farm animal photographs. I am so grateful to Carrie for taking an interest in my work, and taking on a dozen or so enlargements of pigs, sheep, goats, and cows up to 20 x 26" framed and displayed in this beautiful setting. Sales are happening already, so I'm very encouraged!