A VERB..............

saturday morning rhodi and i planned to leave the security of our hill and head to oakland. why? you ask why would we leave our nests of comfort and quiet and head to the city despite the snowy weather. well, it's a 5 letter word baby!!! FIBER! seems like the only reason we leave the hill these days.

i get a phone call at 7 am- a very groggy barbara sue says she needs a fiber fix too. so we head to oakland in rhodi's green machine-which by the way is a toyota with 350 thousand miles on it.- that is not a typo- 350 big ones!!!!!

you see one of our favorite fiber companies was having a big grand opening party as they just opened their new store. they used to have a teeny tiny store in bezerkely . if you haven't heard- A Verb for Keeping Warm has moved to oakland! i cannot begin to tell you what a fabulous job they did- the store is beautiful.

all of "verbs" yarn and fiber is naturally dyed. now they carry many other yarn companies which are not not naturally dyed but beautiful as well.

you can also get yarn that has not been dyed-just the natural color of the sheep-gorgeous! as well as locally raised fiber.

making choices was tough! here's another view:

barbara sue won one of the hourly raffle prizes!!!


and yes, there were celebrity sitings as well....WonderMike of the fabulous pod cast "fiber beat" was there. he teaches at the store as well.

the STASH & BURN gurls were there as well as lexi boeger. sorry no photos of these rockstars- didn't want to get too paparazzi-esque. i'm sure many other as well- but with the hermit lifestyle -you know i don't get out much or keep up on such matters.

Best of all, here is the beautiful Kristine-proprietor of this amazing venture-pictured with partner Adrienne-who helps out in so many ways.

it took ALL day to decide on what to get-it was agony. too many choices. i ended up getting 3 skeins and a pattern.

from left to right: think prairie here, a gorgeous golden and yellow 65% falklands wool 35% tussah silk blend-going to make a shawl. the other two are superwash 70% merino 30% silk-sport weight. socks indeed!!! happy socks!!!! the pattern is a coco knits(local designer)design called "sabine"-seamless and top down-my kinda of sweater! the day was made complete by visiting an old friend that i haven't seen in like 20 years!!!! he came to the opening! what a great day!!! the best i've had in along time. still glowing.

well, the bewitching hour was approaching and we needed to head back to the hills before we turned into trolls or possibly worse. we waited for one more raffle and departed at 4. wow! the 3 hour drive turned into a 5 hour escapade- torrential rains, lightening and a pee stop at a starbucks in marysville turned into a car unable to start-wet starter perhaps. to make a long story short which involved barbara sue's adventure with a CHP officer, a tow truck that luckily wasn't needed as we got the green machine started and white out blizzard conditions on scary canyon roads-we did all eventually make it home safe.....all in the name of FIBER.

summer mendocino art fair

last weekend "washboard woolies" (rhodi and i) ventured to mendocino again for an art and craft fair. i cannot tell you how much i needed to get away from the heat and sun. this time of year i'm so sick of everyday sunshine i could scream!!! the weather was perfect: drizzle, fog, mist, clouds but we actually did see the sun peak out every once in awhile-the locals went gaga for it.

the cost of mendocino summer lodging can be pretty pricey we opted to save some money by camping. being that the state parks have been booked solid all summer long-we found a gem of a place to camp. right by caspar beach. only $25 a night. we had a groovy site:

there's rhodi heating up some tea water for us. a 5 minute walk from our tent and wa-la:

nice, eh? we didn't have time to rent surf boards or kayaks that they had available. there was even a bluegrass jam at night. we really lucked out.

i insisted rhodi bring the iron bed frame she found in a dump in Louisiana-i think it added the perfect touch.

a perfect place to hang rowan's kid sized fingerless mittens.

too cute!!!! it was a bizarre sale. we thought we'd sell mainly knitted items. but low and behold-we hardly sold any of it- the popular items this fair were the hand dyed rovings(felters came out of the wood work i tell ya!) and our yarns. wow! we were surprised.

this wine rack was loaded with rovings when we started and we came home with just a few. rhodie dyed silk scarves and did some nuno felting too. they are the crinkly scarves. there is actually wool felted into the silk. here's a closer look:

last fall all my baby sweaters sold out. this summer, not one sold. at least i have more craft fairs coming up. so i'm not too bummed.

here's some of my hand dyed sock and shawl yarn.

the flowers were a nice touch too!

i did trade a pair of fingerless mittens for this pin. i want to make the perfect "woolydaisy" hat to stick it on. this woman had some amazing metal sculpture.

i love the town of mendocino.(actually i love all the coastal towns around here!) we were fortunate to be there on the second saturday of the month. all the art galleries are open late. not only do you get to view great art but have tasty treats as well. did you know the movie "summer of '42" was filmed there? the mendocino art center had the still photographs from the movie-it was great!! i really enjoyed the" studio odd hours" gallery too! it's been forever since i've had the time to just wander around and look at art.

i just love the old water towers in the coastal towns. i actually found one for rent and thought it would make a fabulous fiber studio. of course it would be quite the commute:) when i tried to show it to rhodi later i could not find it anywhere. the town is not very big. very strange. but we did find one for sale.
yes, i could live here. and drive a cool truck like this:

no problem!

let the spinning begin!

wheel oiled- check
fiber ready-check
snacks and tea- check

let the spinning begin as today is the kick off for the tour de fleece! i am a proud spinner of "team
sierra spinderellas." today also marks the first stage of the 2010 Tour de France bicycle race. The race begins in the Netherlands and finishes in Paris on July 25th-with only two days of rest. this year's race covers a distance of 3596 km. that's a little more than 2234 miles for us americans. wow! photo credit-google images.


team spinderella, along with many other teams will be spinning fiber on spinning wheels and drop spindles on the days the guys race. there's still time to join if you want some inspiration and motivation to spin down that mountain or closet or shed full of stash you have(i know you've got it!) just go here-there are teams of all interests. sign up-there's even prizes and fiber discounts at groovy online fiber stores-not that i know anything about that!!

my goal is to spin down old stash- i dug into the deep dark depths of my closet and pulled out an array of gorgeous fiber delight-it was like my birthday or xmas in july!!! okay-i might be be a bit over zealous- but i'd love to get thru this pile by july25th! shall we take bets?

you must remember i'm a ADD spinner- i have trouble sitting still for long periods of time so i don't just plow thru fiber like some rock star spinners i know. i'm a little bit here a little bit there kind of spinner.

i think i'm going to start out using "henry."

he's from holland. henry was my first wheel. he's good for thick stuff. i usually use him for plying. but i want to try spinning thick and chunky again-you know- that beginner yarn you hated when you first started spinning and that was all you could do. little did you know you were creating some awesome "art yarns." seems like the more you spin the thinner your yarn becomes.

well hubby just asked me if this tour de fleece thing was a blogging thing or a fiber thing- uh, i guess that means i should get off this machine. he's right i need to start spinning.

on an ending note- my boy still picks me flowers: I HOPE HE NEVER STOPS.

whose got a bigger head?

okay- i guess i've tortured you enough with the suspense. a couple weeks ago our fiber guild(the coolest guild EVAR!) had a spindle retreat or "camp" you might say. we gathered for a 3 day weekend at a nearby resort for camping and drop spindling. the guild has been on fire lately with the use of these ancient devices.

sara brought a gorgeous bag she wove many years ago- everyone gushed over it. turns out it was originally suppose to be a hat. but as you see.......

the hat just wasn't going to work for sara. so she turned it into a bag. in walks barbara sue-and wah-la

it fits!!! a regular "spinderella" i'd say.

unfortunately, i could only attend friday nite. but what a ball. we had a mexican potluck, lot's of spinning action and lots of rain!!! my camera batteries were nearly dead so my pictures got progressively worse as the evening wore on. i took many pics-but boy o boy-i won't post them. you know how your camera slows down when batteries start to fail. you all would totally hate me if i posted them. you look like a bunch of half lidded, opened mouth drooling.....well i better not go any further. it's not politically correct to use that word anymore. trust me. i was going to delete them but hey -you never know when you might need a good black mail photo.(insert evil laugh) here's a few that are safe to post. sorry they are so dark. amy had an amazing aray of spindles:


i was a rebel and refused to drop spindle. i hate it. i've tried it many many times. no pleasure what so ever. so why waste my time right? so i brought my wheel-"bozenna." she is a Kromski sonata from poland. i named her "bozenna" because it is the polish named for happy. my wheel make me happy. it is also a czech name for happy as well. i am part czech so i thought the named fit perfectly.

i was spinning a merino/silk blend from sweetgrass wool of montana.

many other guild members blogged about spindle camp and have great pictures. here's the list i know of so far. birdsong, sharon, heidi and amy. check their blogs out!

dye day recap

Jeez- i think it was like a month ago we had our spring fiber guild dye day and i'm finally getting around to posting about it. i swear for every post you see here i must write 20 other posts in my head. just don't have the time. anyway- dye day is always such a wonderful time. hanging out with wonderful women dyeing fiber and eating fabulous food! Sue opens her beautiful home to us and sara graciously shares her knowledge.

my sock yarn- i wanted to think outside the box and get away from my usual greens. i had envisioned bright pinks, oranges, yellows and purples. fun socks for me to brighten my day!!! but when i started mixing my colors a force unbeknownst(i don't think that is a word but i like it) to me took over, took control- look what happened.

possessed by color!

this roving turned out darker in real life- real manly-perhaps something for my studly hubby with this colorway. just a touch of pink for his feminine side:)

i was not happy with the way this one turned out- too much washout-perhaps it did not steam long enough. going to have to overdye it.


was definitely thinking outside the box for this one. not my colors. will probably sell this roving.

this is subtle and sweet-i keep thinking-something cozy for baby. i hate traditional pastels for babies-but do like soft mellow cozy comfort colors for them.

here's some alpaca yarn-i wanted to achieve the feeling of a stormy ocean. the photo is a bit washed out.

I plan on making the spingtime bandit shawl with it-on ravelry of course!

chickens, dragon, and the garden need my attention! must vacate this machine-but i have a teaser for you-

stay tuned for my next blog post to find out what sara and barbara sue are up to!!!!

gnome in the sierras

do you remember Snicklefritzyarns i discovered at Stitches 2010 back in february? being a gnome lover and all-the fiber was hard to resist! but i did-what was i thinking??? here's what caught my eye at their booth-a gnome surrounded by fabulous fiber-what more can you want?

i regretted not buying any wool from snicklefritz -so what did i do when i got home from Stitches? went on online and ordered some BFL in the "gnome in the sierras" colorway. as if i needed more fiber!


can you say gorgeous? while spinning i was thinking about the sierra buttes. can't wait till the snow melts so i can get up there again! i am blessed to live in such a beautiful area.

i spun up each roving separately. OOPS! forgot to photograph the other roving.

see how different the two rovings are.

then i plied them together.

I'm so in love with this yarn. i only have about 200 yds. i might try this pattern. it's called 198 yards of heaven-sounds about right! it's a little shawlette. look at that fricken sheen. I love this yarn so much i'm going to show you yet another photograph. even though it looks just the same-but not to my eyes.

time to get off me arse and walk the dragon, water the garden and get excited about 6th grade math.

Excitement at Rebel Hen Ranch!

well there certainly has been a lot of happenings and excitement around the rebel hen ranch. now, hang onto your boot straps i am not a confederate. just want to make that clear as it seems like anytime one uses the the word "rebel" in rural settings folks immediately jump to conclusions. we call our little homestead rebel hen ranch because we live on rebel ridge. glad to have that out of the way.....

most of you think of april 15th as tax day. well, it turned out to be birthing day here on the homestead. two of our bantam hens had gone broody but they were always nest hopping and being a bit sporadic about the whole thing. so, i didn't really bother to count the 21 days it usually takes the eggs to start hatching. but in the back of my mind i figured i had at least a week to get prepared for the newcomers. the banty bungalow is not set up for a brood of baby chicks.

but last thursday when i let the bantams out of their hen house i noticed that the two broody hens were sharing the nest with the most eggs. hmm. they looked pretty cozy so i didn't separate them i just stuck the other eggs underneath them. i heard a strange noise but then broody hens always make strange noises.

we were headed to sacramento that day and liam and i were checking on the chickens when i heard a tiny "peep!" i opened the nesting boxes and there was a tiny chick the size of a golf ball. bantams are miniature chickens so the chicks are almost like bumble bees! here is Georgette and Ruby with their first hatchling.

i started panicking(remember i'm the worry wart)- we were leaving for the day and i hadn't set up any kind of brooder for them. the nesting boxes are high above the floor and the food and water are outside-there would be no way for the chicks to get around. we had to think fast! i had an old kennel from blue's puppy hood that i had been trying to sell. so we stuck the kennel into the bungalow -filled it with straw, food and water. then we had to move both broody hens, 2 baby chicks (at this point) and all the eggs into the kennel. hubby, liam and i worked quickly! after lots of flapping and pecking we managed to make the move.

i worried the whole day we were in the city. the next morning we were able to check on the situation. we now had 4 babies. i realized this dog kennel was not going to big enough and they would need to run around. so we brought out the old chicken brooder cage from past babies we have raised. we put it inside the hen yard and and hooked up the dog kennel to it. this seemed to worked. here are two of the chicks learning what to eat from their mamas.

chicken mamas are amazing mothers. here is a video-listen to georgette talking to her babies:



sadly one of the babies died. it appeared that the little one was squashed by one of the mamas. it was rather flat. so then there were 3. there were 6 eggs still unhatched and the mamas didn't appear to be setting on them anymore. i wondered if i should just get rid of them as i had heard they won't hatch if they are not getting mama warmth for all but 20 minutes of the day. i called my friend sue who has much experience in these matters and she said to leave them for a day or two. so glad we did as much to our surprise we had a new 4th baby after waiting a few days. so we decided to let the eggs stick around awhile just in case.

meanwhile....a storm brews. suppose to be a a big one! rain and snow expected thru thursday. today i was feeling horrible. sore throat achy-just plain awful. tried to homeschhool liam but spent most of the day on the couch napping.

around 5pm i realizes holy crap-the babies and their mamas are not in a storm proof arrangement. with not much energy liam and i whipped together quite the "crackshack" out of pallets and tarps.

it's really quite embarrassing as i take pride in my coops!

It had been several days since that last chick was hatched and the mamas really seemed to be ignoring the remaining eggs this time. i was able to reach in kennel when we were building the crackshack and they were not warm. i decided to to take the eggs out to give them more room. liam put them in shed while we finished. later i had forgotten all about the eggs and began doing a storm clean(putting all tools in the shed.)

much to my dismay-i knocked over the container with the remaining eggs. they fell on the shed floor and rolled away! i found 2. they were cracked and one egg was peeping!!!! yes, peeping! i quickly ran it to the mamas and stuck it under georgette getting pecked in the process! i have no idea what will happen i guess i'll find out in the morning. hope they don't shun the baby if it survives.

i managed to find all the other eggs in the shed-rotting eggs in the shed would not be pretty. the eggs seemed to be dead-cold, cracked and no peeping.

not knowing what to do with them i threw them into the burn pile hubby had going. i didn't want rotten eggs around. wait!- was that a peep i heard? liam said it wasn't but i'm not so sure---

in my haste to get my last post up i forgot some "green" to share with you. i finished my "wandering the moor shawl." a delightful great pattern from ravelry!

it is a delight. i ill make it again in the larger size!

i finished the green batt from rowen as seen in last post. i love it! it's so soft and shimmery-from the bamboo that is in it.

i have much fiber to show you but this post is too long so i leave you with a small skein of yarn. i found 2 balls of single ply handspun that i had left over from previous projects and i decided to ply them together. very happy with this spring color way.