Monthly Archives: April 2012

Falkland plied

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Julie | Comments Off

I ended up with about 700 yards of Falkland lace-weight from 4 ounces of roving. I think it’s time to try 3-ply sock yarn again soon!

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Tagged falkland, Fiber, plied, plying, Spinning, wool, yarn

Block of the Month: April

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Adri H. | Comments Off

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Tagged BoM, DIY, quilt, Sewing, textile, WIP

Looking Ahead, Ever Ahead

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Cindy Telisak | Comments Off

Pretty Tella

Has it been a week? Good grief - I just looked up and my taxes are almost late. The barren, leafless landscape has changed nearly overnight. The farm has burst into verdant leaf and bloom, and the grass has had to be mowed twice!

March was such a whirlwind, I've let some important things sneak up on me. But we had a blast the past few weeks with a bunch of significant farm happenings: DFW Fiber Fest, the Wildflower Fiber Retreat, and the shearings of both alpacas and sheep. I've been living with the fleeces filling up my living room and utility room, and am just itching to get into those bags up to my elbows.

Salvia Greggii

But first, we continue getting the colored fiber cleaned up for our unbelievably patient 2011 shareholders who each deserve medals. Today, I tumbled gray alpaca fiber until I nearly turned blue, but the softness and overall cleanliness of the fiber kept me on Cloud Nine the whole time.

Sweet Rachael

This coming Saturday, we'll host another wonderful Tri-Loom class in the LRB. Since we have to keep the classes small, I know we'll have another class on the calendar soon. If you've been wanting to add this easy-peasy weaving technique to your list of skills, let me know, and you'll be the first on the list to make up our next class. It's more than just triangles - our friend Midge Jackson has designed some darling vests and other clever garments with these woven pieces. I'll have the patterns available at the Little Red Barn.

Fleeceless Solomon

This month I will finally get to attend the regular Third and Fourth Saturdays' Spin/Knit-ins at the LRB (on the 21st and 28th)! Seems like forever! We've had several new folks join the group and I can't wait to meet you in person!

The Golding

If you have your name on the list for one of the next batch of Golding spindles, hang in there. We almost have enough folks poised to send in our order. Remember this time we can order either the 2.5" spindle or the smaller, lighter 2" spindle. There's still time to get on the list if you'd like. Email me for details. Farm Women School is still moving forward, behind the scenes, and will continue to develop over the summer. We hope to unveil the curriculum just before the end of the year, for enrollment in January.

Knitting Student Tackles Cables

As we move into the warmer months, the hectic pace slows a bit here at the farm. Oh sure, there's Farm Camp during the last weeks of June, and Emma and I will be off to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival over the first weekend in May, but all in all, we're getting to the "slow" time in the fiber year. Just right for all the catching up I'm needing to do.

Nutty Phoebe

As you know, none of this gets done by me alone - I have a wonderful crew of Help Shareholders, a strapping high school fellow who loves to work outside with his hands, a Little Red Barn full of knitting and spinning pals, and you, precious friend, who hang out with me here in Blogland. I love your company and your encouragement.

Wet Hens

On a personal note, you may know that my only child, Emma, has been away in Hawaii homeschooling with my sister and her family for the past six months. I'm delighted to report that she's back home now and we're enjoying having her back something fierce. We're up to our necks planning for her future and what that might look like. Focusing on Emma now may necessitate a few adjustments around the farm, but I'll share those things as they develop.

April Showers

In the meantime, know that our day-to-day life here on the farm continues in its steady rhythm and routine, punctuated by fun events and the laughter of friends. You bless us!

Easter Eggs

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Tagged fiber prep, hens, shares, spring, Tella

Still Waiting

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Susan | Comments Off

Waiting for sheep to start giving birth leaves you with a lot of time to think of what you’ll do differently next lambing season. And sometimes, if you’re really lucky, you get an idea that you can employ this lambing season. Today was one of those days.

First, we had a round bale delivered into the little paddock that’s attached to the barn. Then we moved in all the bred ewes. Zac and I spent half an hour evaluating each girl and determining who looked liked they were closest to lambing and who looked like they were a couple weeks away.

We marked those closest to lambing with a red stripe and those that were further away with a green stripe. Red = Ready. (Yeah. green means go and we should have done it the other way, but we didn’t think of that, so Red = Ready.)

Now when we check for signs of lambing, we can concentrate our efforts on the most likely candidates.

We are going to try to leave the bred girls in the little paddock until they lamb, but we’ll see what happens. The good news for you is that the little paddock is almost entirely viewable on Lambcam 2. YAY! Y’all may know that a ewe is in labor even before we do!

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Tagged lambcam, lambing

Sheep of the Week: Wren

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Caroline | Comments Off

As we all sit and wait for the lambing season to really get underway, my mind’s been turning to this time last year– the very first lambs and kids to be born, and the sleepless wait for the inevitable (the fact that it’s inevitable somehow makes it worse: you just want to tell the ewes, Come ON already! Let’s get it over with! I wanna see lambs when I come check back on you in an hour!)

Piper was our first lamb born last season, but Wren was her close-behind younger sister.

She checked out all their little siblings as they were born last April (this is one of my favorite pictures of all time, and, to me, summarizes what uneasy big-sister-hood is all about):

The most distinctive thing about Wren is her voice– her baa is sort of flat, muted, and whiny. Once you’ve heard it, there’s no way you can her hear baa and not recognize her. I can’t distinguish the voices of the other sheep– they’re too similar, for the most part– but one of the most impressive bits of shepherding show-off I engage in is, Oh, her? Baa-ing way in that other pasture? That’s Wren.

Since Wren was supplementally bottle-fed (her mama had had udder problems in previous seasons), I got to know her voice intimately.

This past year, she’s grown into a fine, lovely yearling ewe:

She’s sweet, even-tempered, and neither too skittish nor overly familiar. She’s our friend Amy’s special favorite, and I really don’t think she could have picked a better sheep to dote on!

Now, of course, Blanca & Fresca and Camembert have Wren and Piper’s old job of older-siblings-in-charge. As soon as we can get this show on the road (any ewes out there listening?), they’ll be running circles around their new friends.

NEXT WEEK on SotW: I’m going to introduce you to my favorite goat!

NEXT NEXT WEEK on SotW: Check in on one of last year’s angora kids!

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Tagged lambs, posted by Caroline, Sheep of the Week

In Progress

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Marla | Comments Off

So much to blog about, but so little time left to prepare for the opening day of the farmers market!

I give you a poorly lit picture of display in progress. Stay tuned for more original creations!

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Tagged Almost a Business, chalkboard paint, chalkboard window, old windows, painting, upcycling

Early-getting-into-mid April Update

Posted on April 9, 2012 by StephCat | Comments Off

Wednesday I leave for the Chicago area. I’m teaching two classes (Intro to Twisted Stitches & Beading Stranded Motifs) at the Spring Knitcircus Retreat (I think there are still spots available!) in Madison on Saturday.

The original plan was to visit my in-laws in Geneva before & after, and to borrow their car to drive up to Madison, but my FIL is having some medical issues (all fixable!) and they’re still in California while that’s all taken care of. I’ll still be staying at their house, and am renting a car.

So I’ll have a couple days of quiet time, touring Geneva & St Charles (and visiting various LYSs).

What do you like to do when you’re in traveling by yourself?

There’s an incredibly decadent chocolate store in downtown Geneva I’d like to revisit. I’m sure I’ll find someplace to hang out & knit, whether it’s a coffee house or LYS. If the weather’s nice I’ll walk by the Fox River.

I’ll be driving to Madison on Friday. I’m planning on visiting the Sow’s Ear, hanging out with Jaala & Amy, teaching Saturday, then driving back to Geneva on Sunday. Monday I fly back to California.

Unfortunately (for me, and of course it’s all about me, right? lol) the Yarn Crawl LA was scheduled the same weekend. However, I am a Merino sponsor, and some of my patterns have found their way into some of the prize baskets. One thing I’ve noticed is there are a ton of LYSs in the greater Los Angeles area I’d not even heard of, let alone visited; so if nothing else, I’ve a list of new places to check out on my own!

CRK update: I’ve done the first of the pre-printer proofings and sent it back to Shannon. Soon, people, soon! I can’t wait til I see that thing in print.

Hitch update: I’ve received some terrific submissions so far! I’m accepting submissions through April 15th, so there’s still plenty of time to submit a design (or two!). Check out the info here. (Also, check out my post on tips for submissions here.) I’d love to see some more sock & hat patterns, but am open to anything.

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Tagged Knitting & Spinning

Stoneview 2012-04-09 11:55:13

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Julie | Comments Off

We were excited to have Chris and Sara join us for Easter this weekend. I wasn’t sure if they were coming so it was an awesome surprised to get a “we’re here” text from Sara Saturday night. Jason and Daniel went to PAX East (a gaming convention) on Saturday while Chris and Sara did a power walk on the Freedom trail and finished in a record 90 minutes. They came back and spent the afternoon with me.

I adapted my sweet potato roll recipe to include sourdough and had a lightbulb moment when I realized it’s much easier to roll the dough out all at once and cut it into strips with a pizza wheel before forming the knots. It went much faster that way.

Sweet potato rolls

1 cup “fed” sourdough starter
1 tablespoon honey
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup skim milk, 100 to 110 degrees F.
3/4 cup sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
3 tablespoons melted butter, divided
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
5 cups bread flour, divided
cooking spray

Combine the sourdough starter, honey, yeast, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined, breaking up any lumps of potato. Beat in egg yolks. Add 3 cups of the flour and mix with a spoon until smooth. Now add salt and enough remaining flour to make a smooth dough. Kneat 8-10 minutes and transfer to a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat. Cover tightly and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Preheat over to 400F (convection if you have it).

Roll out dough on a floured board to about 3/8-inch thick into a rectangle approximately 12 x 20. Using a pizza wheel, cut dough into about twenty-four 12-inch strips. Spray two baking sheets with cooking oil. Form strips into knots and place on cooking sheets. Cover loosely with towels and allow to rise about 30 minutes or until double.

Brush with melted butter and bake at 400F

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. fifteen minutes or until lightly browned, turning the pan halfway through cooking.

Dessert this year was a red velvet cake, one of Daniel’s favorites and a bit hit with all. It’ll be prettier if you do a crumb coat but since I was doing frosting late in the evening I skipped that.

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
1 lb cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk food coloring and cocoa powder together, until smooth, in a prep bowl.
In the bowl of your mixer, beat together butter and sugar, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla and cocoa/food coloring. Add flour and buttermilk, alternating each, beginning and ending with flour. Mix vinegar and baking soda in a little cup and then gently fold this into the cake batter. Split batter into two cake pans that have been greased with the butter papers. Bake 30 minutes at 350F or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:
Whip together butter and cream cheese then add 1 teaspoon vanilla and gradually add the confectioner’s sugar until a spreadable consistency is achieved. Place your first layer on your cake stand and spread the top with a dollop of frosting leaving it thicker at the edges. Invert your second layer onto this. Now transfer a little of the frosting to a small bowl and spread a thin coat over the cake. Don’t worry about crumbs at this point. Place the cake in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or until the crumb coat is firm (chill the rest of the frosting if your kitchen is too warm). Now frost the cake with the rest of your frosting. Chill several hours or overnight before serving.

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Tagged baking, Cooking, Easter, Family, holiday, recipes, red velvet cake, sweet potato rolls

Welcome Atlas! First lamb ever at GFF!

Posted on April 9, 2012 by countryelvis4 | Comments Off

My shetland ewe Anna, gave birth today to her first lamb, and the very first lamb ever born on my farm today. I have an Easter lamb! He told me his name was Atlas, and was up and sproinging amazingly fast. Mother and lamb are doing great. This was the first time I’ve been actually present for the birth, and it was awe inspiring.

Now, how will I ever tear myself away from the farm to go to work tomorrow? It’s bad enough I have to leave the barn tonight. Thankfully, I have an awesome baby monitor in the barn so I’ll know if anything should go awry in the night.

Who’d a thunk it? An Easter lamb! Feeling very blessed tonight.