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Well, I see from the blog site that it's been right at 3 months since I have posted anything. My "silence" has not been wholly intentional but with all that's been going on, posting has been something I've "thought about" usually around 1 in the morning when I'm FINALLY crashing for the day. I could say that "life" has overtaken us but in all truth, I think life not only ran over us, but then turned around and ran over us again! Between working 2 jobs and the commute, plus mowing well over 3 acres with a push mower, my computer time has rather taken a back seat. This time of the year is sort of a "love/hate" relationship for me. I love being out in the hills and hollars but the heat and humidity, not to mention the chiggers and ticks, do take a toll on me. We have the garden in full production right now but am still trying to get at least an 8' fence around it to save the food for US rather than feed the deer which out number humans around here by at least a gazillion to one! The picture I've added here is the view from the kitchen porch in the SPRING when it's REALLY nice around here!
On the studio scene, we just purchased a used second loom! It's a small 24" 4 harness, 6 treadle loom that Susie's sister saw in the paper up in Illinois. We will be traveling up there in a couple weeks to attend a family reunion and will pick it up then. Once we get it home and go over it and clean it up, I will post pictures. I'm not sure where this one is going to "live" but the price was low enough that we couldn't pass it up.
Other news, I purchased the stainless steel I needed to make the wool combs so as soon as I can get some shop time, I will start cutting and grinding them into points and see what happens with making our own combs. I have had a number of people asking about purchasing combs so maybe I have found myself a new career!
And lastly, we received our "sample" of some BEAUTIFUL gray alpaca fleece that we saw in Indiana last fall but someone else bought before I got back to it. We had asked the breeder to let us know when they sheared this spring and low and behold...they did! It's nice to work with someone that actually does what they say they will and keeps their word.....it's VERY refreshing! We washed the 4 ounces that I bought using a different scouring technique that worked very well and I already have it hand picked and LOVE it! You can hardly tell you have anything in your hand, it's so soft! I have them holding the other 3 pounds of this fleece till I can make arrangements to get the money to them and have it shipped. As soon as I can, I will post pictures of this fleece along with another Shetland fleece we bought this spring. Hopefully it WON'T take 3 more months to get that done!
On the studio scene, we just purchased a used second loom! It's a small 24" 4 harness, 6 treadle loom that Susie's sister saw in the paper up in Illinois. We will be traveling up there in a couple weeks to attend a family reunion and will pick it up then. Once we get it home and go over it and clean it up, I will post pictures. I'm not sure where this one is going to "live" but the price was low enough that we couldn't pass it up.
Other news, I purchased the stainless steel I needed to make the wool combs so as soon as I can get some shop time, I will start cutting and grinding them into points and see what happens with making our own combs. I have had a number of people asking about purchasing combs so maybe I have found myself a new career!
And lastly, we received our "sample" of some BEAUTIFUL gray alpaca fleece that we saw in Indiana last fall but someone else bought before I got back to it. We had asked the breeder to let us know when they sheared this spring and low and behold...they did! It's nice to work with someone that actually does what they say they will and keeps their word.....it's VERY refreshing! We washed the 4 ounces that I bought using a different scouring technique that worked very well and I already have it hand picked and LOVE it! You can hardly tell you have anything in your hand, it's so soft! I have them holding the other 3 pounds of this fleece till I can make arrangements to get the money to them and have it shipped. As soon as I can, I will post pictures of this fleece along with another Shetland fleece we bought this spring. Hopefully it WON'T take 3 more months to get that done!
