Monthly Archives: November 2011

November Knitwear Designs!

Posted on November 14, 2011 by | Comments Off on November Knitwear Designs!

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More Farm updates…

Posted on November 12, 2011 by | Comments Off on More Farm updates…

Promise sporting her hand knit sweater, thanks Mom!

 

Miss Sophie has arrived!

The farm has grown again. I’ve added a new 3 year old doe, Sophie to the goat crew.  I decided that if I was breeding Tallulah this year, and she singled again, that kid would be pretty lonely without another kid it’s age to romp and play with. So, I went looking for a nice doe to add to the flock.   I was lucky to find Sophie, she is a sweet girl, who has twinned in the past, and who needed to be rehomed (former owner has mostly dairy goats and sheep, and had no place to keep her safe from their huge dairy buck).  She has settled in to the flock here nicely, though Tallulah is still the queen.  She and Tallulah and Four are enjoying the honeymoon suite this month, and hopefully we’ll have a few kids in April.

I also added a new ewe to the flock.  She’s an icelandic/romney cross, from my neighbor John’s farm.  He wasn’t going to breed her, since she’s a cross, so was going to send her to the butcher.   I thought she was a pretty ewe, with an interesting fleece, so I brought her home.  She’s been hanging out with Skippyjon for the last month.  I think they will make beautiful lambs together.

 
 
Gabby, short for Gabrielle. She’s a talker.
In other farm news…last weekend John came down and sheared all the goats and the 2 shetland ewes, Susie and Anna.  It’s a bit later in the season than I normally like to shear, but it’s been so rainy that I had to cancel 3 appts with my regular shearer.  Fortunately John was willing to come and help out, or I think I’d still be trying to figure that out.  Of course, the nice warm Fall weather we’ve been having skipped town right after the shearing.  So, the kids got put in coats, they were shivering like crazy.

Persy is stylin' in plaid!

 

Promise has been successfully (and easily, surprise!) weaned.  Tallulah did it all on her own.  After shearing I put Tallulah and Sophie in with Four for breeding, and I was expecting alot of noise from Promise once her mama was gone.  But, amazingly, neither of them seem to have noticed.  Promise and Persy are buddies and always together out in the pasture and in the barn.  So, that was a huge relief.
 
We’re just about ready for winter now…wood is all stacked, propane and oil tanks are full.  I even got a replacement oven for the house so I can bake and roast all winter long.  Breeding is under way, and if all goes well, I’ll have 2 bred does, and 3 bred ewes.  I’m looking forward to kidding and lambing season, which should get started sometime in April.
 
The farm has had many visitors this Fall.  Hurricane Irene has come and gone, and while the farm didn’t suffer any damage, my neighborhood and town were hit pretty badly.  I’ll talk about some of that in another post.   I’m trying to get the blog caught up with life, but life just keeps rolling along.  I’m going to try to be a better blogger, should be a bit easier with the shorter days and fewer outdoor chores/projects to be done.  I’m thankful for the mild weather we’ve been having, I’ve only had to haul water from the house one morning so far, and that was weeks ago.  I’m hopeful for a mild winter, but I’m pretty sure that’s a long shot.
 

Tallulah was having none of the zebra coat, she was out of it in less than a minute.

 
 

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How N.K. Jemisin and Anthony Durham

Posted on November 11, 2011 by | Comments Off on How N.K. Jemisin and Anthony Durham
If Tolkien were Black. African-American authors N.K. Jemisin and Anthony Durham are reimagining the fantasy genre - and in the process, winning awards and selling lots of books. I'm putting them on my "to read" list.

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Make it Happen!

Posted on November 10, 2011 by | Comments Off on Make it Happen!
We've reached over 300 views of the blog, but we still need followers!  If you like the blog, please follow us as we begin to build the business.  :)

Knitting Madness
Yes, the craziest time of year is quickly approaching, and I'm still torn about what sort of items to post in my Etsy shop.  I also have the choice of filling an order for 10 hats (all the same) and just resting on my laurels until the new year hits.  What to do?  What to do?

At the same time I'm wondering how I can get more exposure and increase my sales to people that are not family members.  It all comes back down to writing the business plan.  I have this vision in my head of having my own yarn shop while also doing some sales on Etsy as well, but will I have the time.

While sitting down and knitting with my mother, it just hit me, "See, we need a yarn shop where we can just sit and do this all day.  Share knitting advice, make some sales, have some classes and just have a nice relaxed atmosphere.  But how do we do that?"  My mother, surprisingly agreed!  So of course, my brain is going, Make it happen!


Peanut helps with the pumpkins
for Halloween

This is a tough economy, and the one thing that scares me is that I won't have enough sales to stay afloat with a new business.  My other worry is if I chose between a brick-and-mortar shop or an online shop, will I regret not making the other choice.  Business plan, business plan, business plan.  Since Peanut is such a wonderful helper, I definitely want to get him involved, even if it means he's just there to say "hi" to people.

Either shop choice, I definitely want to give back to the community and also involve business students and teach them how to run a business, give advice for business plans for retail ideas, and even have those who are interested in the industry get involved.  Almost like having a yarn apprentice.  That's one thing I miss about teaching (I taught at ITT Tech for almost 2 years), having promising students do well and have intelligent discussions about so many different things.

I'm also looking into some marketing solutions, in case I decide to do an online shop.  I was told that might be a little bit more difficult to do, especially since there are so many widely respected online knit shops already.  I know some brands that I would like to include: Millamia, Cascade, Holiday Yarns, Berroco, Debbie Bliss, etc., but I definitely want to be smart about marketing in this area.  I do love all the LYSs that are in this part of the state (see my entries about the Yarn Trek).  We'll see!

Coming Soon
I'm thinking about doing a giveaway for Christmas time, so those of you that read the blog, begin following to get more details as they get hashed out.

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The Mason Jar Trick

Posted on November 9, 2011 by | Comments Off on The Mason Jar Trick
Genius. (via @schampeo)

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A Great Idea – Updated!

Posted on November 2, 2011 by | Comments Off on A Great Idea – Updated!
clothespins

So it is no secret that I love mason jars.

herbs to be infused

dropped, settling, and stirred in, respectively :)

I love them for storage,

tea in a jar

pre-measuring liquid oils

mason jar storage

and all parts of them for decoration.

mason jar paraphernalia for decoration

mason jar candle holders

But when it comes time to use the contents, especially the pre-measured oils for soap making, pouring and transferring can be a drippy mess. Actually, everything down to the grains would be much easier to get out with some sort of spout controlling the flow.

And while I don't usually do this sort of thing, that desire for an easier way to use my precious mason jars is exactly why I am writing this post. I know a lot of you also use jars for various things around your houses, and I think you will flip over Karen Rzepecki's amazing idea for a mason jar lid -- with a pour spout!!!

I encourage you to check out the short video,



and the page on Kickstarter for additional information.

Karen is SO CLOSE to her goal and I would love to see it happen for her!

And, you know, there's a little selfish interest there too, because I want these lids in my life!

UPDATE:

She did it!!! She met her goal and now these caps will become a reality!

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Lauria Visits and We Do Some Halloween Things

Posted on November 1, 2011 by | Comments Off on Lauria Visits and We Do Some Halloween Things
I picked up Lauria at her house around 11:30, harassed her cat while she finished some emails and then we were off to adventure, or something like that. As we left Lauria's town we saw (but did not have a camera!) a hearse converted into a Ghost Busters car - it was pretty awesome. Then we stopped on the way at a JoAnn's to get crafting supplies for crafts we never got to.

Once in Providence we stopped by Fresh Purls. About a year ago Lauria and I met up in Providence and found the store, but it was closed. I've waited, since moving here, to visit with Lauria and finally got to go today! It's a great little shop and while we were there we got to see some little kids trick-or-treating in the store fronts on Hope Street. While we drove to the Salvation Army (more craft shopping) we saw a whole parade of little kids and parents, including an Urkle and maybe a Care Bear.

By then (there were some other more boring detours in there) we were tired and hungry so my plans of chicken soup or macaroni and cheese were foiled. We got boxed mac n' cheese (and some strange conversation with a woman who overheard us talking about shopping and then would.not.let.us.go) and made it thoroughly American food by adding hot dog and broccoli to it, because that's a rounded meal...

By this point we saw that there were basically no trick-or-treaters on my street, but I was determined to have jack-o-lantern, so while I made cookies Lauria carved the pumpkin face (after I de-gutted it). After making sure it was visible from the street we made some dark n' stormies and watched Beetlejuice, our Halloween movie choice. Neither of us remembered much of it and it was mostly just weirder than we remembered!

Sadly we had to be grown-ups and I took Lauria back to the train station wishing we had more time to spend together.

Photographic evidence of our shenanigans here.

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