The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival

This was my booth at the festival. The first day, it kept sprinkling off and on so I had to have the tent sides and everything shoved in the back where it wouldn't get wet.  On Sunday, though, the weather was beautiful, and I was able to have a more inviting setup.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the other vendors and the sheep and alpacas, but I didn't.  I mostly stayed at my booth.  The kids had a great time running the grounds, bottle feeding the lambs, and buying honey sticks.  I had so much help! I could not have done this festival without all the family there to help me.  It was also fun and relaxing for me.  I enjoyed it very much and look forward to next year's festival. 
 



Miah's table.  She did really great, sold some of her bracelets, a skein of the yarn she dyed, and lots of the wooden buttons she and Jeremiah made together.


I sold eight of my yarns plus someone put in an order for another.  Considering that my etsy sales for the last 4 months was 11, I'd call that a success.  I enjoyed getting to talk to other fiber people, admiring their handiwork, and getting advice and encouragement.  At the tail end of the festival, I finally went shopping, which was perfect, because people were ready to rid of stuff.  I got some great deals, and brought home all this:

Yay!  I told myself I would not buy dyed fiber, because I want to learn to dye and it's cheaper that way.  But some of this stuff was so cheap, I couldn't pass it up!
2 pounds of undyed merino top from Ohio Valley


1 pound of border leicester locks


Gorgeous dyed suri locks from River Hill Ranch


All the rest is from Moonwood Farm.  Angelina and silk noil, a present from my sister.


A beautiful, blue bamboo braid, a gift from Miah.


More dyed suri locks.


Fluff and sparkle from the bargain bin.


Dyed cotswold fleece.

 I can't wait to start spinning!

Linking up at Crafting On.

Praise God for Kip, Again!

Sweet little Kip gave us a great big scare yesterday.  My sister and I were sitting at my booth at the fiber festival, and he started choking.  And he wouldn't stop.  We had to yell for help, and lots of people rushed over.  Alvina from River Hill Ranch will always hold a special place in my heart for saving my nephew's life.  We never did see what he was choking on, but we suspect angora fiber or maybe grass.  He was rashy afterward, so it may have been more of an allergic reaction to something.
Looking back on the incident, I see that God's provision in protecting Kip was perfect. I was in the tent with my sister when it happened.  I kept leaving her to look around, and Kip was facing out in his carrier so my sister couldn't see his face, so this was significant.  There were so many helpful people around us, one of whom turned out to be his own NICU nurse.  We didn't know she was there until she came over right after he started breathing again.  And my mom showed up just a few minutes later, which was a huge comfort as my sister and I were both pretty shaken up.
It's terrifying moments like this that make you realize just how fragile life is, how suddenly it can be over, and how we really and truly can do nothing to sustain our own lives or the precious lives of the ones we love.  God is so, so good, showing His mercy and power in our weakest moments, giving life and sustaining it.  We are praising God for Kip again.

"Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

~Job 26:14

Enjoying Spring

Around Here

Zahana and Rohan have learned about Canada (maple candy!), Oman, Lebanon, and Turkey. Zahana comes to me at random times during the week to inform me which country she would like to know about next.
Here they are painting a new playsilk purple like the Phoenicians of ancient Lebanon.


Flat bread and garlic dip.


Picking rose petals to make rose water for Turkish Delight.
 

 

Turkish Delight enjoyed with Turkish coffee.
 
Sometimes it is easy to find good books for the country we are learning about.  Other times there's not much at all.  We found two good books at the library for Turkey: Nabeel's New Pants and The Hungry Coat.  I also really enjoyed The Balloon Tree recently, though it had nothing to do with geography.
 



We had an unfortunate happening with Elowen's little gerbil, Dash, which resulted in tears and a new gerbil.  Here he is: Silver.
 
American heritage Girls and Cub Scouts are both over for the year.




Lots of baseball going on.
 
Rohan learned to ride his bike with no training wheels this week, and Zahana learned to tie her shoes.
 
Zahana also learned a couple stunts on her bike!


These are my sweet Mother's Day gifts from the kids.
 

Upcoming Festival

This weekend, I will be selling at my very first fiber festival!! It is the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington, KY. I'm praying for beautiful weather since I will have an outside booth. I have not added any new yarns to my etsy shop for about a month, but I have been spinning.  For my birthday, my parents bought me a pound of the lovely wooly crumbs that I love, and it is all spun up now.
I separated out the blues and added some white locks and other goodies on my drum carder, then spun this into a single with curlies. (I also separated out the neutral colors and carded them together but haven't spun it yet.  Kind of forgot about it.)






A regular 2-ply with random color selection.


Navajo-ply with what was left. 


This is a a batt made of alpaca and merino that I dyed and some silk noil thrown in for texture.
 

Spun into a single - seriously overspun. 


I took that kinky single and coiled it in twisted handfuls onto a thread.  I'm really not sure if I'm going to sell this one.  I'd like to wear it myself.








I won this sweet sampler set by Heavenly Fiber on the Phat Fiber blog.  There was a luscious mini art batt, a gloriously soft fiber braid, scrumptious sock yarn, and a bit of yummy hand made soap.  So fun!


I have been wanting to try a cabled yarn (2 two-ply yarns plied together for a chain look) for a while and decided that's how I would use the braid and batt.  Miah used the yarn for friendship bracelets.


I was surprised by how purple the single from the batt ended up being.  I spun as thinly as I could since I just had a small amount of each fiber, so the colors really blended together when I plied them.  In hind sight, this was probably not the ideal technique to use on such a little bit of fiber, but it did turn out nice.  Something like corespinning would have shown off the batt better.  And next time I try cabling, I'll use colors that are more distinct.
 

 

I ordered business cards.  I had been making them by hand, but I figured I would need more than I could make for the festival.

 So if you are anywhere near Lexington, KY this weekend, come and see me. I'd love to meet you!