And Then The Plagues Started

Well, just one plague. And it was really more something super cool we were really glad to experience - a swarm of dragonflies!  Hundreds of them swooping and darting and buzzing and soaring and circling and flying all around us in front of the barn.  Actually, now that I think about it, we probably were experiencing two plagues, an insect hatching of some sort and the dragonflies taking care of them for us :-D.

I didn't get any good pictures and the video I took only barely shows them, but to me it's still a good souvenir of something that many people don't ever get to see. The chirp purr you can hear if you turn your sound up is Comby, another good souvenir :-).

Click to biggify.

More Complaining About The Heat

I'd taken these yesterday afternoon for an evening post, but when I saw Woolliam sleeping outside last night I knew that really told the whole story.  These aren't far behind.

That is one sound asleep sheep.  Can you guess who?

Poor Woolliam.  Also very sound asleep.

Rebecca Boone.  Asleep.  What else can you do?

Well, if you are Keebler, you can get mad that you are so hot, get up, turn around, punch the sheep next to you so you can take his spot which surely must be cooler being nearly five feet away...  It probably doesn't say much about me that I fall in the Keebler/Maisie camp if we did a "Which Punkin's Patch sheep are you?"

"Go back to sleep, Little.  It will be over NEXT THURSDAY.  Hope I don't punch anyone before then :-o."

I decided it was time for a cookie party and picked up a fresh box of Nilla Wafers this afternoon.

The Great American Barn Lot Camp Out

In all the years Woolliam has lived and slept here, he has never not slept in his corner of the inside stall of the barn.  It is That Hot.

I know, Big Guy.  I'm miserable too :-(.

Maisie's just mad about it.

Mad as a hatter.

Yarn Along - Renny's Ready!

This post is probably going to seem pretty random and/or weird, but hey, it beats missing another week of Yarn Along and I do have something exciting to share.  Or a couple things.  I had a pretty intense root canal this morning/afternoon, so hang on, it might be a crazy ride!  I apologize up front :-o.

First up, Renny's ready to roll!  My half of her yarn is all spun and I feel like I've got plenty of yardage to not have to dip into the other half of anything :-D.  How did I get it done so quickly?  I ended up having a brilliant idea to enter the Handspinner's Yarn Basket class at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival later this month.

Not only have I always thought that looked liked fun, but by doing so, I Had A Deadline.  This is never a bad idea with me ;-).  And, not only did I have a deadline, but I obviously wanted to do my very best spinning, so I really concentrated on doing my very best spinning.  Also never a bad idea with me.

I had a great time assembling my basket.  I included half of the spun yarn, the pattern I've picked, my knitted swatch and some info about Renny and Miss Ewenice and how and why this project came to be.  I did take some pictures of it before I put it in the mail.  I'll share those after the festival.

If you've never entered your yarn or a finished item in competition, I can't encourage you enough to do so.  Even if you don't win a ribbon, you are going to get so much valuable feedback from folks who know way more than you do and that's a big win in itself.  Even just taking the time to really do your very best spinning is going to teach you something!

Speaking of fun and interesting competitions at fiber festivals, I would LOVE to enter a Shepherd's Lead class...but I can't find one close by.  Can you imagine taking Maisie all the way to Maryland?!?  I have an idea that maybe we could all do something "online", but oh man, I'm getting way off track here...

Back to Finger Lakes!  This is one of the very nicest fiber festivals I've been to.  I've gone three years now.  Or maybe I've gone two years and this is my third?  Lalala...  Last year I taught a drop spindling class and they asked me back to teach it again and add a "what next" class after it to talk about plying and finishing your yarn.

We had a blast last year and I'm really looking forward to this year.  Just like entering your work in a competition kicks you in the butt, so does having to teach someone how to do something.  I always learn as much as my "students".  I'm sure there are still spots open.  Come join us!  Or at very least, stick your head in the door at the end of the workshop and say hey :-).

Now for something random about spinning yarn you might find interesting.  Or maybe it's about wool.  Or it probably includes characteristics from both spinning and wool.  As I was making test samples before I started spinning for real, I'd spin a bit and then wash the sample to see how it worked, if I needed more twist or less twist or thicker or thinner...  You should always wash your samples to get the truest final results.  Don't ask me how I know this ;-). 

Here are two samples.  Notice that they are different lengths even though they were wound on the same skein winder?  Do you know why?

The long one is still wet and the short one is dry.  As your wool yarn dries, the fiber itself and the crimp or curl in the fiber will relax back into more where it started just off the sheep.  That wet skein is stretched out.  The dry one is stretchy.  And even though this picture really doesn't show it very clearly, it's thicker and rounder and exactly what I wanted :-).  

See I told you this post was going to be goofy.  I'll wrap it up.  Okay, one more really random thing.  As I tried to type wrap, I actually typed warp (a weaving term).  I also tried to shear a book.  Friends should not let friends post blogs on pain meds :-o.  

For my book to share - I've listened to several books lately as I was spinning.  One I really enjoyed was The Language of Hoofbeats by Catherine Ryan Hyde.  Ooh, I didn't realize she also wrote Pay It Forward.  I'm currently listening to another No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency story.  Always fun :-).

Joining in with Ginny...

Morale Booster

The weather was so....so...nearly perfect last week that I let my guard down and allowed myself to get lulled into thinking I'd lived through summer.   The upcoming 10 day forecast is brutal (at least to me).  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate summer?   The sheep...not so fond of it either.  

To make matters worse, as the mercury neared 90 today, the biting flies came out.  Seriously?!?  The sheep spent most of the day in the barn, venturing out only for a few minutes here and there to grab something to eat and then running back for cover.  

I kept an eye on everyone, especially Spud and Woody.  Spud is handling the heat better than he was, but he's definitely the vice president of the We Hate Summer Club.  Woody didn't go out much with everyone either and when he did, he looked pretty unhappy, as did several others.  

I felt like it was fly related and that Woody was the one most bothered didn't surprise me as he has the finest wool and hair on his face.  Chocula is super annoyed by flies, too.  He'd make a good effort to go out, but wouldn't stay long and I'd see him racing back to the barn.

It did cool down some after the sun set and everyone seemed to take a deep breath and relax, but I still wasn't 100% about a couple of them.  I decided to use the ol' arena test.  Even though it was dark and only Graham was still out grazing, I knew if I opened up the gate to the arena, anyone who was feeling okay would run out for a special treat.  Everyone raced out.  Whew!

Liddy and I walked out with them, too, and I sat down on the still warm mounting block. That big rock really holds the heat.  Liddy climbed up and down, ate for awhile, Baaxter punched her (Baby B!!!), she stood by me until her hurt feelings healed, Hank came over to make sure she was okay and then she tootled around some more.  

I tried taking a iPhone video of everyone before they went back in, but it was too dark.  I grabbed the big camera and played around with my new birthday lens (Thanks, Saint Tim :-D).  While I didn't always nail the focus, I still think the photos are pretty neat.  Sitting out with the sheep at night is one of my favorite things to do.  

Keeping With A Theme

These two pictures were taken just seconds apart the other morning.  While part of the reason they appear so different is how they are framed - the top one focused more on the low land and the second including more of the sunrise - the sun "rises" just as quickly in the morning as the moon appears to "rise" at night.  

Amazing.

Trailing The Sheep

Ewen and Daniel, watching the sun rise.

Heading out for breakfast.

I love late summer mornings!