Tag Archives: yarn

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March is a tricky month. At the beginning of the month, it seems like it should be spring. And yet, it’s most definitely not. Especially when you’re hit by a ton of snow, like we were today.

But eventually the snow will melt. We will go through mud season, a seemingly endless period of cold mud with flooded grass, just teasing us.

But it will start to dry out and we’ll be left with dirt and tiny, tiny sprouts of green grass.

And then something wonderful will start to happen. We will start to see grass on the farm. Not yet the green grass of full spring month, but yellow-green grass that comes in a bit patchily.

It’s hard to believe that by the end of March, spring will have sprung and we’ll see grass on the ground, but I’ve found photographic proof that grass always comes.

And the grass will be quickly chomped on by the sheep and goats. Who will see that the grass is always greener on the other side.

Much like our March Sock Club’s colorway…

The yarn holds the promise of spring. That we’re on the other side of winter. That this is the first vestiges of the spring that we will have, with it’s yellow-green hue.

Eventually we will have a deep spring green, but not yet. right now we have the promise of spring. That place between winter and spring called mud season. (Well, it would be mud season if we would stop getting so much freaking snow!) But by the end of the month, spring will be here.

If you want to be notified for when memberships open up next quarter, sign up to receive an email. I will be releasing any slots that open up later this month and because the number are so limited, I will only be sending out an email to those who’ve signed up as interested, so don’t miss out on next quarter’s offerings!

It’s time for our sock club members to open up their February packages! What do we have inside?

Hay Bale! Hay is incredibly important to the winter maintenance of our animals. There’s no grass for them to graze on, so in addition to grain, all winter long they get fresh hay to munch on. This means regular hay deliveries. One of the great things about living in Virginia is that the price of hay is much cheaper than when we were on Martha’s Vineyard. Still, we go through 1,400 to 2,000 pounds of hay a week, and it adds up quickly.

We have the hay delivered to the front of the farm, but once it arrives, it still needs to be moved back to the pasture for storage and then into the pen as needed (2-3 times a week).

Amy is in charge of moving the hay. It is a very delicate operation, particularly in the mud, but I can’t imagine it’s as difficult as maneuvering a bus, which Amy has a license for.

Inspired by the multifaceted yellow found in a round bale of hay, I got to work mixing up some colors. In addition to pure yellow, I also mixed up a brown and a yellow-brown solution of concentrated dye.

Then measured it into the dye pot by the milliliter.

Next came the pre-soaked yarn…

I allowed the base color to absorb…

And then added additional brown to get that hint of brown found throughout the bales.

In the end, I was really pleased with the tempered colorway that I came up with.

What would some good patterns be for this lightly variegated yarn? I’ve found a few patterns that I think would pair well with this yarn:

Top Row: A Roll in the Hay socks by Gina House / Ear of Wheat scarf by Natalia Sha / Winter Wheat socks by Valerie Wagoner
Middle Row: Gingko Shoulder Shawlette by Maggie Magali / Winesap socks by Darlene Hayes / Wintered Wheat Mitts by Melissa Schaschwary
Bottom Row: Winnow socks by Janice Kang / Katy mitts by Darlene Hayes / Yellow Dwarf Shawl by verybusymonkey

Do you have any other patterns that come to mind? Share them below! If you have ideas for March, email me (lauria at fiberfarm dot com) and I’ll share them in March’s post!

A special thanks to Cris, who took the photos of me dyeing yarn.

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