Tag Archives: shares

Yarned by You: Fall Share Gallery

Posted on January 16, 2013 by | Comments Off on Yarned by You: Fall Share Gallery

Susie just mentioned to the Ravelery group that Fall 2012 Shares are shipping from the mill in the next week or so! That is a fantastically fast and unusual turn around!

That got me thinking about my fall share yarn. I said it was going to be my 6th knitting project. Oh the sad unravelled yarn in my stash! I laugh at my naivety! To be fair, I did start it:

But I realized that it was too small and so frogged it and there is stays! What a shame. I expect that there are others of you who haven’t yet finished knitting with their Fall XX Share yarns, and so for those people and for the people anxiously awaiting their Fall 2012 Share Yarn, I show you some inspiration of past Kid Mohair / Cormo blend yarns!

Navyknits worked one of the many February Lady Sweaters knit up in share yarns! She got her share yarn in Avocado!

Rebeccag knit up this gorgeous Forecast in Butterscotch for her girlfriend. I just love this color saturation.

If you’re not in the mood for a sweater, you could always make a Swallowtail Shawl like aiesure did in cinnamon.

Or maybe you’d like to knit a hat! knitmainea knit this Claudia in blueberry pie. I love the cable detail at the brim.

But maybe you’d prefer a more simple brim with more texture on the hat? Then how about this Jane hat that jennyfrommaine knit in Avocado?

Or maybe you like Jane, but like the color of knitmaine’s hat more? Then corporatemonkey’s Jane hat in Blueberry Pie is right up your alley!

But maybe you just love the natural yarn? Then check out DinaKnitsinCT’s Meret (Mystery Beret).

But maybe you’re like me, and just really want to make a sweater. I love this 28thirty by deirs.

Or another natural sweater that looks so perfect to dress up or down. HelenPuppy knit this The Laura Sweater.

Unfortunately it’s too late to buy a Fall 2012 Share, but there are other shares available! A reminder that the date refers to when the animals are shorn and it’s usually a 6 month wait after that before the yarn is in your hands.

What are you planning to make with your Fall 2012 share?

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UPDATED Yarned by You: Share Yarns

Posted on November 8, 2012 by | Comments Off on UPDATED Yarned by You: Share Yarns

It’s that time of year again! When Susie is shipping Spring 2012 shares to shareholders excited or surprised (if they forgot that they purchased one!) to get them. There’s been lots of talk on the Ravelry group about what to make with these share yarns, so I thought today I’d show what other people have done with their previous shares to give you some ideas!

Featured below are all spring yarn shares. The spring shares are all 100% pure cormo goodness direct from the farm animals and by Susie’s hard-working hands. The yarn produced is a labor of love, filled with heart-ache, joy, hard-work and patience. How many of the sheep that produced this yarn did Susie sit beside while they gave birth to tiny (or huge! Alabama, I’m looking at you!) baby lambs destined to also create this lovely yarn.

With each share, I like to think about what yearlings added their first clip into the lot. For the Spring 2012 shares just mailed out, it was the sheep named after birds (born Spring 2011) that were shorn for the first time! Robin, Wren, Peregrine! (Large baby) Emu! Indigo Bunting and his twin, Scarlet Tanager! I think about the conversations I had with many of the knitters whose work is featured in this post. It’s lovely that so many of them are active on the Ravelry group and we can all talk about the impending babies!

Speaking of babies, ElysaWolfe knit this in threes: baby cardigan for HowdyPandowdy’s much-anticipated baby girl. This Spring 2011 colorway is pistachio. Fortunately while we’re waiting for new babies to be born, HowdyPandowdy keeps us up-to-date with her own picture posts of her darling girl!

And because this sweater now fits the sweetheart it was made for, here’s a photo! (Do you see the blanket in the background? That was one of the specially woven blankets from the Babydoll Southdowns on the farm. HowdyPandowdy snatched one up and I’m completely jealous!)

CraftyHistorian used her undyed Spring 2009 share to knit this lovely, just-enough-lace-to-keep-you-entertained Peabody:

Flarkin put up a poll to let the people decide what she should knit next. The people elected the Wood Hollow Vest in her Spring 2011 share, colorway Nantucket. (I happened to be one of the people that voted in the majority!) I think democracy worked well here!

SusanM has been without power since Hurricane Sandy hit last Monday. It just came back on a few hours ago. She has had a lovely sense of humor about it all though, and I’d like to think that her son’s been keeping warm in the Staghorn Aran Second Edition sweater she whipped up for him in time for last St. Patrick’s Day. (I know you’ve been dreaming about this sweater since you saw a sneak peek last week!)

In addition to SarahVV being an incredibly kind person, she also has terrific taste in sweaters. This Dark and Stormy is anything but dark and stormy, but is a perfect match for her Spring 2011 Nantucket share yarn!

Trinknitty’s Spring 2009 yarn share became this lovely Textured Shawl Recipe. I’ve been eying this pattern for awhile and with the Nor’easter blowing outside my window, it seems like it would be perfect to wrap around myself and keep out the drafty winds seeping in from the windows.

SarahVV does not seem to suffer as much as other people from Pattern-Paralysis when it comes to her shares. I know plenty of people (myself included!) who just can’t find the perfect pattern for the share yarn. Here’s her Tea Leaves knit from her Spring 2010 share in this cheerful blue!

Finally, I’d like to end with a pattern that was made specifically for the farm. Back when Juniper Moon Farm was Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm, Emily Johnson created this lovely sweater, Ethel Mildred Ferguson, for her Family Trunk Project. Check out her blog for the story behind the sweater and the project.

I hope that if you’re just receiving your Spring 2012 share that this post gives you a few ideas of what lovely thing your yarn can become. If you’re having cormo-sweater envy and need to satisfy yourself with a definitely-not-instant-gratification-purchase (remember, the share names are for when the wool is clipped and it takes time for the mill to process the fiber), you can become a shareholder here. Up for sale right now are 2013 Spring Cormo Shares and 2013 Spring Colored Flock Shares.

And Susie brought back half shares, so if a full share is more than you can commit to, you can try it out with a half share!

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Yarned by You: Spinning Gallery

Posted on October 10, 2012 by | Comments Off on Yarned by You: Spinning Gallery

Since Susie just shipped the Spring 2012 Spinning Shares, I thought I’d focus this week’s Yarned by You on Spinning! This is literally yarn by you!

When I first touched a Spring (pure Cormo) Spinner’s Share, I understood why spinners spin and I knew that I had to become one. I’ve just started on that path, with help from my fellow Aunties on the JMF Ravelry Group (I don’t know what I would do without these women in my life!). The cormo fiber is so buttery and melt in your hand delicious!

You can see some of the loveliness in this photo by luci99:

As part of the Ravelympics 2010, she spun up this Spring cormo share into this lovely yarn:

Such lovely spindle spinning! I love the cleanness of undyed, farm fresh yarn.

Of course, many people can’t resist having it dyed, or dying it themselves, and when the results are like 60SpriteGal’s Spring 2010 Share (dyed “Kitty Nose Pink by FatCatKnits), you can see why:

The pink and cream swirling together are just so soft and inviting. If there were a baby precious enough (and a mother with enough time to gently handwash!), this would make a perfect little girl’s sweater.

muppetfeet dyed this Cormo Share herself using Wilton’s Cake frosting dyes:

I love the delicate hue. The joy of working with food-grade dyes is that you can use all the materials you have in your home already to do it! No special pots or utensils.

The fall shares are a mohair / cormo blend. I haven’t had a chance to play with the roving, but the mill-spun yarn has a delightful halo and feels very close to the farm. This yarn, spun by wickedphysic in colorway (day lily) is a Fall 2008 share:

As I’m looking out a rain-streaked window, the lovely autumnal tones feel like the perfect thing to knit or crochet while sipping some tea.

woolkitty spun this lovely JMF Cormo / Mohair top that was dyed at the farm in the colorway Through the Looking Glass.

woolkitty Navaho plied it to keep the color changes preserved. Navaho plying is chain plying (much like making a chain in crochet) and then adding twist.

Finally, this is QualityChick’s  handspun. She spun one single of MVFF Cormo/Mohair blend and one single of Mulberry Silk and then plied them together. The silk added gorgeous sheen!

QualityChick turned this yarn into a lovely shawl (198 yards of Heaven):

That wraps up this week’s Yarned by You! If you’re interested in buying a Spinner’s Share, you can do so from the JMF shop here!

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Looking Ahead, Ever Ahead

Posted on April 10, 2012 by | Comments Off on Looking Ahead, Ever Ahead
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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