Hot Weekend

Last weekend was fun filled with the Black Sheep Gathering. I didn't get out of my booth very much, but it was fun just the same. I had a chance to catch up with fiber friends and snoop in everybody's bags to see what they were buying.

This weekend started out with shearing our goats; they are so much happier. The rest of it has been spent trying to do stuff inside out of the heat. I never heard what the high was yesterday, but I know it was mid to high 90's. Last night was kind of fun. I opened the windows in the bedroom and could really hear the thunder storm pass over. After every clap of thunder the wild turkeys would gobble. Then at about three a.m. I had to get up and close the windows thanks to a skunk.

Looking into the near future I am excited about an upcoming workshop I've signed up for. Judith McKenzie is teaching a four day spinning and dying workshop in Mount Hood this August and my friend Patty of Sporfarm (she raises shetland sheep) offered to let me stay with her since she's signed up for it as well. I can't wait. I've never taken a formal spinning class and I hear that Judith's workshops are the best.

Now to get through another grueling work week; fortunately this one has a holiday in it.

Happy Fourth of July!

Catching Up

I am way behind with the blog. I'm blaming Eugene Electric for that. Our bookkeeper quit right after our Hawaii trip and since business has been so slow we've decided not to replace her for now. I've been training our parts runner (who kind of reminds me of Mr. Cunningham from Happy Days) to work in the office. Jack told him he had to start wearing skirts.

I took a rug weaving class with Jason Collingwood at Fiber in the Forest and learned how to do this:

This isn't my work, I took this photo to demonstrate how a temple is used (the brown thing holding the edges even). I haven't photographed mine yet. I'm planning to weave the rest of the warp off after the Blacksheep Gathering next weekend; I'll turn it into a loom bench cushion.

Fiber in the Forest is so much fun. It is heald at Camp Myrtlewood in Myrtle Point, OR. The camp is beautiful, and people are nice, and the workshops are a blast. This is what the shibori/indigo class did:

And the carding class:

I forgot to get a photo of the felting class; their stuff was pretty amazing too.

This must have been after Fiber in the Forest because it was next in my camera. This little fawn was playing with our cat, Blue. This has happened several times this spring. All the fawns around here this year have that hair loss disease so we're concerned they may not make it through the winter.

Last weekend I went to the Northwest Regional Spinning Assoc. Conference at Willamette University in Salem. It was a lot of fun, but so exhausting. I took a drop spindling class. In the evenings the gym stays open until 11:00 and people sit around spinning. That is where I met these two cuties. This one is a new wheel called a Pocket Wheel. They are hand made by a man in Bellingham, WA. I fell in love with it and already placed my order.

And this is an antique. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner so I don't know anything about it, I just thought it was interesting with the two wheels.

You can see from the above photo that this was in a spinning circle. The gym was full of these; I wish I would have thought to get a photo when everybody was at their wheels.

On Saturday night they had a fashion show. People paraded around the gym showing off their handspun garments. It is always fun to see what people create.

Now I get one weekend at home which I will spend trying to get more fiber ready for the Blacksheep Gathering (my favorite event of the year since I get to sleep in my own bed).