Spin, Span, Spun

I did some more spinning last night, and I think....I hope....I saw some improvement. As I sat there spinning, I thought about the conjugation of the verb, "to spin," and I played in my mind with the word "span," using it in sentences such as "She sat on the couch and span." I think only oddities like me, who have an interest in language and grammar and other such esoteric things, would sit on the couch spinning and thinking about verb conjugations. Still, it all came out well in the end.

Here, as a reminder, is my first attempt from my class last Tuesday night, now rolled onto a paper tube. I can see I need to start collecting these tubes instead of putting them into recycling all the time!

Now here, is my attempt from last night. Is it better?
The material we were given to work with in this class is a big lump of fiber - I mean, it's processed and it is soft and nice, but it's not a roving. If it were in the form of a roving, I think it would be easier to spin. It's hard to draft evenly because of its bulky nature.

So, given that assumption about my chunk of fiber, I decided to play with the free fiber sample that came with my drop spindle. It has angelina and firestar and viscose in it. That was a completely different spinning experience, and here is the outcome of that. I really rather like it, if I may say so myself.

Yesterday I got my first batt from the fiber of the month club at Split Rock Ranch. I already had some fiber from her shop, and can't say enough great things about her batts. Look at this stuff!! It's absolutely gorgeous! I took this picture in the sun so the black isn't as black as it looks in person - you'll have to trust me on that one!
It is 50% black superwash, 25% black alpaca/silk and 25% cultivated silk. The name of it is "Stained Glass" which is perfect - the silk colors stand out just like looking through a stained glass window. I can't wait to spin this. I must get better at spinning first, but oh, so tempting!

Duck Bathing: Round II

Sorry readers - I have no goat baby news for you. Stuffin still has a somewhat puffy feeling udder and is behaving vaguely strangely, but she isn't really bagging up and I think I can still feel tail ligaments (if I am feeling her right) so we must continue to wait. In the meantime, I'll do my best to keep your attention with the second round of duck baths.

The 11 ducklings from the Animal Rescue League seem to have stopped growing 2 inches a night, and instead they are actually putting some effort into feathers. This morning was bath time, so everybody piled into the tub for a good round of swimming, splashing and squawking, along with a few genuine quacks! They were less wet than last time when they came out, and everybody just had a good toweling off, and back into the "duck tank" for their breakfast. The older ones did begin to show an interest in adjusting their feathers during the bath, while the younger ones generally splashed about with wild abandon. I do notice that the ducks that had been guessed as being Blue Swedish are not showing any blue-ish feathering, and one of them actually has some brown tips coming in. I wonder if they are Swedish/Mallard crosses?

After their bath, it was time for Disston.
He takes up a large portion of the tub all by himself.
He is very thorough and vigorous with his flapping, and both of us were completely soaked by the time he was finished.
He is incredibly strong and we had to wrap him quite tightly in a towel afterwards to do some feather clipping. We have clipped his wing feathers so that he cannot fly away. He is now living out in the barn with the goats, because the weather has warmed up considerably here (well, it's 32F, which is 0 °C for my Canadian readers) and that is much more tolerable than the last week of temperatures. We hope he will develop an interest in the mice living in the barn. I have read in numerous places that Muscovy ducks catch and eat mice. How charming.

In other news, I went to my first meeting of the local spinners guild last night, and WHAT FUN! They are a great group and so very welcoming. All the husbands come with their wives and some of them are spinners too, while some of them are woodworkers. When I found that out, I called Kelly (having previously assumed he would not want to spend the evening sitting around with a bunch of ladies talking about wool). He was pleased with that and came hurrying over and ended up talking with the men-folk about tools and spinning wheels and I don't even know what else! It was their annual pot luck meeting so I brought some cookies and there was good food and wine to be had. They also did their annual gift swap but I hadn't been at the last meeting when they picked names, so I did not expect anything. I had mentioned to Lorraine, of Hedgeapple Farm (where we got Kitkat, Oreo & Clover) that I would be coming. What a sweetheart she was - she brought a gift of some beautiful rovings for me too! Fortunately, I had brought my batts of "Green Tailed Jay" from Butterfly Girl Designs on Etsy, so I was able to share a batt of that with her too.
They meet once a month, so we'll be back! In the meantime, I hope to do some more spindle spinning so that I actually qualify as a spinner!

Is my goat getting close? And welcome to Disston!

Calling all goat experts! This darling girl, is our goat "Stuffin" whom we purchased along with Muffin and Puffin. Muffin was the girl whose babies we lost because her due date was given as November 27 when in fact it ended up being Dec 28 in the middle of the night. We brought Stuffin inside to the barn and we have some heat lamps with her because we are trying to avoid any repeat of what happened with dear Muffin.

So, what do you think? Has she "dropped"? Here she is with Puffin in the background.

I can still feel tail ligaments, I think, but I'm not sure. I'm so new at this. Her tail feels sort of similar to the others. Sort of like diagonal pencil shaped ligaments either side? Is that what I'm supposed to be feeling?
Her udder is very slightly "puffy" but not swollen -- but not as flat as Puffin's udder. She keeps stretching her neck out today, as if to play at being a giraffe. If anyone has advice, I'll gladly take it!

In other news, our friends at the Animal Rescue League called on us today, to see if we'd like to add one more duck to the herd. Thus, we welcome Disston, whom Kelly named after a famous saw maker (Kelly loves tools). He is a Muscovy duck, and he's HUGE!

Muscovy ducks are extremely good at keeping insect populations down, including flies, ticks and other nasties, and they even eat mice!! Kelly is particularly impressed with that aspect, since we do have some mice in the barn. Right now, Disston is inside, but once this cold spell has passed, we will see how he does outside.
What a handsome boy! Do any of my blogger buddies have Muscovies? What do you think of them? Any advice on making best friends with Disston?

Hope everyone is staying warm - we're trying our best, and keeping the animals well fed and snuggled in the barns.

And So I Spun...

Last night was my first class in learning how to spin. I am taking a 4-week class, 2 hours every Tuesday evening, on learning to spin my own yarn. Next week, we learn some processing techniques, including carding and flicking, as well as have a try on a wheel. But last night, we learned drop spindle techniques, and importantly, how to draft.

I draft patents for a living, but that's nothing compared to this! Drafting is difficult, and definitely an art. Slowly, so slowly, I learned a little. Happily, I had great fun doing it.

Here is the raw fiber we were given to learn with, and my result. Yes, it took me about an hour to do that little bit of wool. I can hear you snickering from here... I'm just a beginner!

The drop spindle is lovely and works well. I'm so glad I bought it. The other ones in the class were using spindles with a wood rod and a plastic round part, and that just wasn't as nice, if you ask me. I am itching to use my new batts, because I can tell they will be easier to draft than using the fiber we have that hasn't been made into batts, but that will come with time. Of course, I used my super llama bag from Sugar Creek Stuff to carry my supplies!

In the meantime, you super spinners out there can all tell me what I'm doing wrong from looking at my little sample. I do know that I had some overtwisting, but our teacher said that's normal for beginners. Whew! Glad I'm not the only one!

Kelly had to plow out the driveway again this morning. He's such a champion of the tractor!
Stay warm everyone!

Lemonade Stand Award!

Wow, thank you "Spinning Yarns From the Farm"!!! This is my first blog award. Well, I did get the "My blog is muck boot-tabulous" sticker from Laughing Orca Ranch, which is proudly displayed, but the Lemonade Stand Award is for "gratitude and/or a great attitude." Well, I try to show gratitude on my blog, for all the great things I enjoy about my little farm, and life in general. I hope I have a good attitude most of the time, although I've been known to be cranky on occasion (just ask Kelly!) I love to read Spinning Yarns from the Farm because it makes me smile, or teaches me something, or just makes me feel good. For example, check out the latest "goat milking tips" post. What a giggle!

Now, here's the really fun part!! I get to bestow the award on others!

The Rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post
2. Nominate 10 blogs that show gratitude or great attitude or both
3. Be sure to link your nominees within your post
4. Let them know they have received this award by commenting on their blog
5. Share the love and link this post to the person whom you received your award from

So here we go, blogger friends, I am sharing the love and awarding you the Lemonade Stand Award for your great blogs that show gratitude or great attitude, or both! (sorry if you've received the award before, but it never hurts to win twice! Just ask lottery winners!!) These are in no particular order...

1. Lola Nova - I bestow this award on you because your blog was one of the first that I read after setting up my own blog, because you commented on mine, and you always have such great ideas (= great attitude) and you show a love for life that I find infectious (gratitude). Thanks for a great blog!

2. Apifera Farm - I bestow this award on you because I love your blog, I love how you adopted Guinnias and show such gratitude towards senior animals who need loving homes, I think you have a great attitude about life, farming, and creativity. And, because I love lavender. :-)

3. Color and Texture - I bestow this award on you because you show great attitude about knitting, and because I want to learn how to make cool socks like yours.

4. The Fraker Farm - I bestow this award on you because you were the only one who commented on my first post about adopting Rosie the chicken, and that showed me your great attitude, which I continue to see on your blog all the time!

5. Isobelle Golightly the Beautiful Goat - I bestow this award on Isobelle because she makes me smile with her antics and she has a very positive attitude indeed. Thank you Isobelle for the laughter!

6. Sarahspace - I bestow this award on Sarah because I've known her forever and I know for a fact that she has both a great attitude and a lot of gratitude. You rock girlfriend!

7. Loess is More - I bestow this award on Diane because her blog makes me laugh, and she has a great attitude and much spontaneity, and her mom makes me laugh too, and they both have a great attitude and Diane even shows gratitude for living in Iowa, which is super!

8. Monster Crochet - I bestow this award on Monster Crochet blog because it's full of great ideas that in my opinion show great attitude, and besides, she'd like to have a farm, and that is a great aspiration.

9. BooneDocksWilcox - I bestow this award on Joanna because she always leaves nice comments, she has a great attitude, and she even has a goat named Clara. How cool is that?! Thank you Joanna, for your visits and your wonderful presence in the blogosphere!

And last but not least,

10. Moon & Stars Studio - I bestow this award upon Mare because she shows such gratitude with sponsoring children through CCF, and because she has a great attitude about so many other things, and she's full of good ideas.

Thanks to all of you, for making the blogosphere a great place to be!

Sheep and Shawls

I am working from home again today. Kelly couldn't get up the driveway last night, even with the 4WD truck. We had to hook it up to the tractor and get it up the drive with me steering and Kelly on the tractor. Then, this morning, he had trouble getting it back out to the driveway. Argh...rotten weather! I am fortunate to be able to work from home.

For anyone who wonders, the bread of yesterday was lovely. I can see that this new bread machine is going to be much loved in this house! Here's the bread, after some munching had occurred. The top is a bit squashed as a result. Yummy! I was amazed at how many blogs I read yesterday that involved bread baking. Must have been something in the air!

Today I am keeping an eye on Stuffin, the goat. I think she is getting ready to kid, but this will be the first time for us (except the ones that died while we were away) and I am very hopeful it will go well. They can get hypothermia so quickly, so we hope that since she is inside and since we have some heat lamps in her area, things will go as planned. I am watching for the signs of labor and feeling her tail ligaments for changes. Since I'm not used to it, it's a bit hard to know! And my goat is not anywhere near as wide as the goat over at Antiquity Oaks! Wow, she's ready to burst!

Tonight, we take our first "Learn to Spin Your own Yarn" class. I'm so excited about it! I've bought a few batts of lovely wool to learn with. I also have a lovely drop spindle that I bought on Etsy from Dragoncraft. You can see it below along with a lovely pink and grey batt titled "Stargazer Lily" from Silver Sun Alpacas. Spinning, whether on a drop spindle or a wheel, is such an art. I think it takes years of practice and experience to be good at it, and I'm only just starting, so I'm not expecting great things to emerge just yet.

Here's a lovely piece of history, for those of you who enjoy vintage hand crafting stories. My parents visited the Shetland Islands in 1961. As it happens, the Queen Mother was visiting the Shetland Islands at the same time they were! (she was just making sure it was all ready for my parents' visit of course!) During their visit, they met these two sisters on the Isle of Unst who had been commissioned to make a shawl for the Queen Mother to be presented as a gift during her visit. They were both extremely experienced and skilled spinners and knitters. Here is a picture (used with kind permission of my father!) of the two ladies wearing shawls just like the one presented to the Queen Mum. See how delicate and fine they are?

Remarkably, my mother was able to pass the shawl through her wedding band - it is a tradition with these shawls that they should be so finely made that they can be passed through a ring with no difficulty! Wow! They are apparently made with a special fine wool that comes from the neck of Shetland sheep. Maybe one of my blog readers with Shetlands will be able to comment on this! I wonder if Icelandics have similar wool? I can't wait to be able to spin wool from my very own sheep!

Well, I don't expect to be able to make such divine things as those shawls, but if I can learn to make my own yarn and perhaps some scarves and socks, I'll be happy! Here, just as a feast for the eyes, are some of the batts I've purchased. I couldn't decide which ones to include, they are all so lovely, but here are a few of my favourites! Here, a blend of lovely pastels...

Here, a blend called "Ice Queen."
This delightful blend is called "Dark before Dawn." Stay tuned - hopefully I'll be able to report on my spinning antics and maybe baby goats soon.

Storm in the Heartland

I took a snow day today. We're having a blizzard, and I didn't want to get stuck on the road or in a ditch or worse. I called my wonderful administrative assistant and she sent me some work home, so I am actually being productive, but right now it is my lunch hour. So, this is a blog about what I did on my snow day lunch hour!

First, when I visited my parents for Christmas, they gave me their bread machine which they were not using. They are enjoying their retirement and although they are busy, my mother still has time to make real bread. I, on the other hand, am working full time and in school part time, and taking care of the farm, so I do not have time to make real bread. We have been buying bread but I'm not really fond of it, and would rather make my own. So, on my lunch hour, I decided to try out the machine and I'm making Oatmeal Honey Bread. I actually followed the recipe except that I added a touch of cinnamon, because I thought that was nice with the oatmeal honey theme. I have never used a bread maker before, but now it is in a rising phase and I am excited to see what ends up coming out.

Kelly is in Knoxville Iowa today, and he called to say the roads are dreadful. He said there are cars off the road everywhere and there is a towing ban in effect until the police say it's OK to start towing cars. I hope he gets home safely. He took the pickup truck today because it's 4 wheel drive and therefore likely to be safer. The visibility is bad and there is a lot of blowing snow.

I am sitting at my desk staying warm. I keep the house cool because it saves energy and besides, it's winter. It's not supposed to feel like a summer's day in Florida. So I'm wrapped up in a lovely warm sweater from LL Bean that my mother bought me last year, and some fleecy pants. The problem was, I was wearing some of those lovely fluffy socks, but they only went to my ankles, and when sitting, I get this space between the top of my socks and the bottom of the pants. Well, I had an 80s flashback...and after some very industrious digging, I found...

LEG WARMERS!!

Yes, I am a child of the 80s (well, a teen of the 80s) and I admit to still owning leg warmers. I think I got these in the late 1980s, probably during high school. They were perfect for my needs today, and I look mahhhvellous. Well, in my mind anyway!

Stickley hasn't had his picture on the blog yet. He's here with me though, being a lazy dog as usual. He is an 87 lb greyhound and the fastest couch potato I've ever met. He is distinctly uninterested in me or my camera today, preferring to be comfy on his bed.

Unless I say his name in an excited tone of voice...

Aside from the bread maker clicking and the dog snoring and my typing, the only sound (besides the wind) is an occasional quack from the basement. Even Tarquin the pigeon is silent today. We are all bundled up and cozy. Hope you are too!