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By Pam, on October 11th, 2008  Here's Nina milking one of her goats...they're just the sweetest girls an their milk is YUM! Our local craft guild had their annual open house today. I had to clean up and organize the yarn & rovings in the studio which is always a good thing and I had to bake -ugh! I’m not a baker…hate making cookies. But I made some pumpkin spice cookies that turned out pretty well. The recipe made way too many and now we’re going to have to eat them! I also made the shortbread that everyone raves about…me included. Its the best! Our friend and meat customer, Emelie Tolley stopped by and we chatted about shortbread, the various types, additions to & methods of construction. She’s writing a new book and shortbread will have a place in it. (Check out her books at amazon.com) Fresh local cider, fruit and kiwi berries (from our veggie CSA) rounded out the table. A fair number of people came by and some repeat customers, too. My very good friend Nina, fellow Coopworth shepherdess and cheesemaker extraordinaire came by, too, and kept me company. She brought some fantastic chevre that she makes from her LaMancha goat milk. Can’t get enough of it! This goat’s milk is the highest in butterfat and the chevre is soooo creamy — and the flavor! YUM! Now I can start packing for Rhinebeck.
By Pam, on September 22nd, 2008  Gilda's fleece and the yarn sample I made using the dog comb flicking method. The yarn is spun in the grease but here it's been washed. I’m spinning Gilda’s hogget fleece now — flicking the raw locks with a dog comb and spinning them randomly. The fleece is multicolored and the resulting yarn is amazing! What a change her fleece has undergone with age. I think this is the most dramatic one we’ve ever had! Gilda had two really lovely natural colored ewe lambs last year and both are still here. Can’t wait to seeing their hogget fleeces on the skirting table this Spring!
By Pam, on September 4th, 2008  here's a blue-green colorway For a couple of years, I’ve had a bunch of skeins hanging around that were dyed and came out a not very attractive grey color so I decided to paint over them. It’s been fun — I guess partly because I felt as though I couldn’t make them any worse than they already were. The results were very nice and infinitely better looking than what I started with! Painting is what I enjoy most, I think, when it comes to dyeing.
By Pam, on August 30th, 2008  here's Emily shearing a lamb Emily — our wonderful shearer — was here and sheared a bunch of lambs. Wow! a new supply of black fiber and the lamb fleeces are so-o-o soft! The last time we had this many black fleeces in one place at one time, I had them blended with black alpaca that came from my friend Elyse in NY. Her fiber is special. The yarn I had made is exquisite! Quite a bit has sold and one customer tells me that she’s going to give a photo of the cardigan she made from it. I’m looking forward to seeing it and will post it, too. Oh! And Emily shared her happy news with us — she’s pregnant! The baby is coming in January. Perfect timing…although I’m sure that our shearing schedule wasn’t a consideration! LOL!
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