I'm pretty sure you all don't like these update posts nearly as much as, say, a new crochet tutorial or project idea. But, the truth is, I'm pretty swamped right now trying to finish Miss Abigail's school year and prepare for a number of events. You may remember how the end of the school year is! If you have children you may even be living it along with me. It seems like everyone wants a piece of you at this time of year, and even organizations that are not related to school like to get that last event planned before families take off for the summer. So, just as an explanation as to why you won't be seeing a lot of new project posts, I'll let you know what is in my workbasket.
My husband and I recently took a bunch of raw wool fleeces from our sheep to the woolen mill to be processed into roving to spin for yarn. This, of course, saves me much time in the processing of it myself. But, it is much more expensive to out-source that labor. So, in an attempt to recover some of the cost of processing, we are signed up for a couple of spring craft fairs to sell the roving, along with other wool and spinning and sheep related crafts. So I am very busy trying to create inventory for these fairs. This last week, as I waited in the car for Abigail, I worked on some of my fabulous felted (fulled, actually) hot pads along with the pretty crocheted wrist distaffs used in spindle spinning. I'm also sewing some very pretty fabric collage kitchen hand towels and have a number of other plans.
In the corners of my time, I have three workshops to prepare in the next month: one on home canning, one on family history activities/resources for children, and the third is a combined workshop with my husband on sheep shearing through to preparing the wool and spinning. I'm actually starting to panic just a bit, but so far I have things under control. BTW, the craft room is just getting worse and worse...serious piles on the bed that upcoming house guests need to use...
So, I'll try to share some pictures here and there as we go along, but I hope you'll understand if I take a break from tutorials for the next month or so...
Wow, Kathleen! You are one busy & productive lady!! I do remember how crazy things get this time of year and even now, with all 7 children married and 14 grandchildren (plus a few more on the way), I call May the new December. Don't worry; you've provided so many interesting ideas & tutorials I haven't exhausted them yet. I'm off to embellish a few kitchen towels. :)
ReplyDeleteBtw, I was excited to see you live in NM since my daughter & her husband live in Los Alamos. Planning a visit to them this fall. Enjoy all your activities!
Thanks for the commiseration, Linda! Los Alamos is an interesting place, not too far from here as New Mexico goes. You'll enjoy the visit I'm sure!
DeleteWool crafting is my favorite kind of crafting! We have alpacas, and so far, I do all of the processing myself because of the price it costs to have them sent to a mill. Of course this means that the work is very slow, and I have bins of fiber that haven't even been touched yet! What kind of sheep do you have? I am a spinner.
ReplyDeleteThose mill costs are really pretty high when you are used to doing it yourself! We may not do it again, but it will be so nice to have such a bunch of roving ready to spin. We have pure-bred Finn sheep. The wool is truly lovely. I have spun an alpaca/merino blend before and loved it.
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