Farming in the shade

We talked with many of you at the Kerstmarkt about our Fiber Fridays, and we have another one coming up on Friday, February 23. Bring your knitting, crocheting, felting, or other fiber-related project, and join us for an afternoon of fun. Feel free to bring along show-and-tell items that relate to fiber arts. The farm is located at 13275 Blair Street, Holland, Michigan. Fiber Fridays are held in the weaving studio on the second floor of the red and white barn directly to the northeast of the house. Our on-farm shop is open each Friday, as well, so you can stock up on beans, corn meal/grits or wool while you're here. More information and a schedule of Fiber Fridays can be found here .

I am thoroughly enjoying the slower pace of winter, though I'm not wild about the extreme cold we've been enduring. I've worked a bit on decluttering, though there's plenty more to work on. I've read a few books. I've spent time weaving and crocheting. I've spent some time doing things that refresh me and contribute to long-term health. But I hear some rumblings that winter is not widely-enjoyed by the rest of the general public. Something about cabin fever. Mutterings about endless white and cold. Some have escaped to warmer climates for a few days or a few weeks. If you're stuck here in the great white north and need to get out of the house and do something different, why not come to our Fiber Fridays? We'll hold these each Friday from 10 - 4, until the work of the farm ramps up in the spring. Bring your wheel or spindle or table loom or needles and hang out in our studio. We'll have water/tea/hot cocoa/coffee available, and there is a...

Our converted chicken coop houses a couple of looms, a serious fiber stash, and our dyeing corner. Of course when we dye, we spread out throughout the whole big room. But it's nice to have a place for the supplies to live when we're not actively working with them. This is our table, when we're actively working, mixing dyes. The table came from a school auction--it's one of those beastly heavy science tables. Yes, this is seriously what it looks like when dyeing is happening. Does it look like a science lab? After the dyes are mixed, we squirt them onto the prepped yarn (soaked in vinegar/water mixture) which has been laid out on plastic wrap. We then fold the wrap up around each skein after the squirting is done, and microwave it with a little water in the bottom of the tray for 7-8 minutes. This sets the dye. We have a dedicated microwave for this purpose. At this point, the yarn is too hot to handle, and gets stacked on another table while it cools. Sorry about the ph...

Saturday we spent the day at the Van Raalte Farm . It was Heritage History Day or some such event, and we went to demonstrate fiber arts. Unfortunately for the planners of the event, there was plenty of competition from nearby events and plenty of rain to keep folks away. But we had a large tent that kept the worst of the rain off, and because there were several of us demonstrating different crafts, we enjoyed the conversation and our crafts. A quilter: Spinners, using the wheel... ...and the drop spindle. A weaver using a rigid heddle loom: Basket-makers: All with a background of lovely, lovely music, provided by these two: Despite the lack of visitors and the abundance of rain, it was a pleasant day.

The Farmer recently spun a 3-ply from our Polypay roving. Last weekend, he entered it in the skein competition at the Michigan Fiber Festival. He won not just one, but two (!) ribbons for his entry. Wow... In other Fiber Festival news, I enjoyed talking with friends and meeting new people (some of them "imaginary" friends from the internet). I oohed and aahed over a lot of luscious fiber, and bought a few things to take home with me. Fiber festival is always a great time! Though next year they could order some cooler weather. It was downright drippy this past weekend...

This weekend is the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan. While we are not vending, we plan to go and enjoy the weekend as usual. If you're going, too, make sure you stop and introduce yourself to us. Look for The Farmer, who will likely be spending some quality time cranking socks. He usually wears his fire department t-shirt when he's out and about, though he has been known to choose his American Lamb t-shirt for sheepy occasions such as this...

Earlier this week we headed over to our favorite woolen mill to pick up roving and yarn that they'd made from our wool. What fun! Nothing like a new infusion of supplies to generate new excitement.  Dyed and undyed roving... And new sock yarn (DK weight, wool/nylon blend) from our Suffolk wool. We kept the grey fleeces separate from the white ones, and they ran singles of each color and then plied them together... We used our trusty dyepot and started dyeing some of the yarn.  Wowza! What fun... After the dyeing was done, I fashioned mini skeins for the Phat Fiber Sampler Box . The box is filled with fiber and yarn and other goodies from independent fiber artists and suppliers and is a creative form of advertising. Hopefully someone who gets one of these boxes will love our yarn and buy enough to do a project with.  Our two daughters got busy making cool tags for the mini skeins. (So nice to have creative kids who are willing to help!) Tomorrow they will ship out, just in time to m...

Sock yarn on bobbins... A bobbin and its matching sock... A pile of socks underneath the Master machine.  The Farmer will be cranking socks this Saturday (February 21) from 11 - 3 at The Shaker Messenger in Holland, Michigan. If you've wanted to see him at work, here's another opportunity. Socks will be for sale, but there's no obligation to buy. Just come on out and visit for a while! A friend of ours will also be spinning at that time, so you'll get to see the process of converting wool into yarn.

One of the very first shearings of our guard llama, Tamarin, was sent off to the mill and made into yarn. It sat waiting for several years for an auspicious time. Last fall I found a pattern I liked and started on a project for me.  I finally finished it (with very little yarn to spare).  Credits:   "Shawler" pattern from shelleden.etsy.com Wood button from thebuttonshop.etsy.com Yarn courtesy of Tamarin and some of our suffolk sheep, mill spun at Stonehedge Fiber Mill

I fielded a phone call from a sock-knitter wannabe (I'll call her B.) last week. She was almost giddy with excitement. B. had called us once before, after The Farmer was featured in the newspaper with his sock knitting machine. She wanted to learn how, and would he teach her? He spent some time with her, explaining the process, as well as what to look for and watch out for when buying a machine. So B. found one that she was thinking about buying, and told one of her friends about it. Her friend exclaimed that she had one of those old things in her basement and B. could just have that one!  At that point, bursting with excitement, B. called us. I had to laugh. Sometimes it goes that way--God blesses us with wonderful surprises.  She came to our house today with her new machine. The Farmer cleaned it up for her and got it cranking. He made one sock, while she watched, and sent her home. Happiness is an old sock knitting machine...

We did indeed have bad weather over the weekend, as forecasted. Friday night out at the marketplace was like being in a deep freeze. The diehard parade-goers came out anyway to see Sinterklaas  and we had a fairly good night. Our sheepy display (you can see him in the photos here ) was blown over and broke a leg. We took him home with us and The Farmer splinted his leg late Friday evening. Saturday we felt as though we were in a wind tunnel, with swirling snow everywhere. The roads were pretty treacherous, and I would have stayed home, given half a chance. Again, the diehard Michiganders did not let a little weather spoil their fun. We put very little of our product out on tables and racks, due to the weather, instead choosing to display it inside the booth. Our big sellers were mittens and wool socks. Go figure. After church on Sunday, I spent the entire afternoon catching up on entering the sales in the computer. The Farmer is feeling quite a bit of pressure to keep ahead of the buye...

Whew! The soybeans are harvested (and we've had more rain, so the corn will have to wait). We start our busy show season this weekend. Here's our schedule: Saturday, October 25, 9-2 -- Hamilton Middle School (Booths for Youths) Saturday, November 8, 9-2 -- Eastside Christian School (Eastside Stop N Shop) and we will talk about the Kerstmarkt when it gets a little closer. So in preparation for this first show, we've been cranking and dyeing and thumping and cutting and felting and tagging...and it is my observation that we need a couple more weeks before this weekend comes.  If you are in our part of the world, please feel free to stop out at Hamilton Middle School on Saturday to say hi. The Farmer will have his sock machine along, so look for the crowd in the corner.  If you mention that you read this blog, we'll give you 10% off one item of your choice.

Not often, but sometimes... Earlier this summer, The Farmer confessed his weakness for antique circular sock knitting machines to a woman who works in antiques/estate sales. "Please keep your eyes open for me, will you?" he asked. Friday, out of the blue, she left a message on our answering machine. "Call me if you get this message within the next 30 minutes or so," she said. "I may have found one." We were both listening to the messages at the same time, and when we heard this one, we looked at each other with chagrin (good word, eh?). It was well past the 30 minutes. The Farmer called her. She'd bought it without our call, just on a whim. Within 15 minutes, she was in our yard, unloading it... Sweet! A little dirty, perhaps, but it looked like most of the parts were there. And the price was so low that if I print it here, sock knitters around the world will convulse.  We paid her, thanked her profusely, and ate supper. Suddenly, the previously-schedu...

One of our daughters recently made some mousey cat toys from wool. Here's one. We are starting to think about what new things we can make for the Christmas market that we always do in our town. This is one of the new things we'll be selling this year. Cats seem to love anything small like this made from wool. Any suggestions for what you'd like to see in our market booth this year? P.S. These mice are much cuter than those we are catching in our farmhouse right now. The nasty little critters got into my chocolate stash. This is war...

The Farmer and I spent the weekend enjoying the Michigan Fiber Festival.  We met with old friends and made some new ones. Both of us enrolled in a couple of classes (spinning, wet felting, dyeing, and carding wool). The Farmer entered five skeins of his handspun yarn in the skein competition, and ended up with white and red ribbons--and one blue! Amazing.  During our time there, we did some stealth marketing. Both of us had several small plastic bags containing our business card with samples of our yarn attached and a sample of our roving. We passed these out to folks who were into spinning and dyeing. We'll see what comes of it. Saturday while I met with new etsy friends, The Farmer cranked socks in a friend's vendor booth. A lot of folks stopped to talk and watch. Fiber people and mechy-techy people alike are fascinated with the sock knitting machines.  And since I forgot the camera, you will just have to imagine all these wonderful scenes.  After our busy weekend, I'm re...

Last week (during the craziness of fair week) we hosted a yarn dyeing workshop at the farm. The local knitting guild's members drove out for an evening of fun. Worsted or sportweight?  We presoaked their yarn in white vinegar and water. Then we guessed how much of each color dye would be needed. We guessed wrong, of course. We needed  more of every color, but the hot colors of the evening were purple and green.  We placed the presoaked yarn on plastic-covered tables and handed out the rubber gloves. And then the fun began! After they left, we steamed each skein for half an hour, and hung them out to dry. Here's a peek at what the end results were after reskeining...

Yesterday we brought all our fine art, home ec, and photography entries to the fairgrounds for the open class judging. Entries included: framed photos (some of which were first seen on this blog), braided and rag rugs, knitted socks, handspun and hand-dyed yarns, drawings and paintings. It's our family goal to keep our little county fair from passing away by reason of neglect. Today we brought the 4-H entries in. More photos, a notebook containing a marketing plan, a decorated cake, more handiwork and four lambs. Yesterday and today most of the 4-H and open class entries were judged. Tomorrow is the 4-H lamb show.  For those of you not familiar with 4-H, here's the wikipedia info.  I'll try to keep up with photos and text this week, but...

Whew! That's over... The morning started out with steady rain. The Farmer and one daughter went ahead with the large tent and set it up. They called home and asked us to bring towels. Not a good sign. We set up in the rain, and were the only ones to do so. Eventually (about an hour after the show started), the rain quit and things started to dry out. Vendors set up and we started to get traffic.  It was a fun day, and it's always good to go to these events even if it's just for the exposure. We sold some things, met some great people, and let a few try out the spinning wheel.  I talked with one fiber-loving couple who recently retired. The women told me that she was planning to do all kinds of fun stuff in retirement--spin, weave, etc. But now that she's retired, her hands fall asleep, and she's not able to do the things she planned. I saw in her face regret, and I realized again that every day is precious and life is short.  Carpe diem...

Sometimes I realize that all this computer time takes away from face-to-fact contact. Like with my family. And the weeds in my garden. (By the way, thanks, Mom, for beginning the weeding process in the perennial bed.)  So I've declared Saturday, July 12, to be IRL Day! IRL stands for In Real Life (as opposed to TACM, which is Through A Computer Monitor). If you are up for a road trip (beware, gas in our area is $4.15/gallon today), we are making an IRL appearance at an art and antique show in Holland Michigan.  The Farmer is the Art and I am the Antique. If you want to plug an actual address into a GPS, here's one:  442 Washington Ave. Holland, Michigan 49423. That should get you very close. We'll be set up at the Art & Antique Show from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.  The Farmer will be knitting socks on his circular sock knitting machine. I would love to haul a loom along and demonstrate the art of rug weaving. I don't think it's going to happen.  If you are in need of yarn...

Major rain events here again today. We needed the rain (finally dried out after the great flood of June ), but not quite so much, quite so fast. And we could've done without the wind, easily. The medium sized poplar tree right by the house will have to come out--the whole top is cracked off and hanging, waiting to bean some unsuspecting passerby. Before the rain hit, The Farmer was working like crazy to get the big round bales in from the field. He got most of them, and the rest will have to sit at the edge of the field waiting for a buyer. The sheep barn is full. We'd still like to stack some more small square bales in the old barn's hayloft, but that'll have to wait for second cutting. First cutting is all finished, finally, thank the Lord. I've been weaving rag rugs every spare moment in preparation for an art show next weekend. The kids busied themselves yesterday with some roving and made cat toys. We listed this one in our etsy shop . They've sold pretty ...