2 posts in one day! I just learned how to send photos from Flickr to Blogger so the cotton yarn was posted all on its own. Today was the Estes Park Wool Market and I was there for 3 hours. My Facebook Page has a few photos of the cute sheep and goats I remembered to take pictures of while there. The Shetland sheep are so cute and small. There were quite a few tiny sheep at the festival today. I also learned that Jacob sheep can have 2, 4 or 6 horns and there was one with 4 horns (no I didn't take a picture). Picked up lots of business cards of ranches to visit this summer/fall. There were lots of CVM breeds there along with Border Leicester and Wensleydale breeds. Tomorrow is the sheep to shawl competition but I am not sure I'll make it (4 hour roundtrip commute to Estes from my home). I did a lot of shopping and viewing of animals today.
There was one yak rancher at the festival who lives about 2 hrs from me and allows visits to their ranch. I bought 1 ounce of a yak cloud. They also sold Quivit ($50) which I had heard was expensive but didn't realize how expensive until I got there. Quivit is the fiber from Musk Ox which are in Alaska and Canada and is rare. I am going to blend my precious yak fiber with alpaca fiber and make it into a yarn. Yak, Quivit and Paco Vicuna are some of the most expensive fiber to spin around the globe as they are rare animals.
I am an hour away from winning the bid on some wool carders (90 TPI) which will be good for the CVM fibers and Romney fibers in my stash. We had great weather for the festival and it was a relaxed event. My fiber shopping is done for the year. I have so much to play with plus I will be picking up the mill processed fibers this month. Well I am off to rest my tired feet and spin up some dyed superwash wool from the stash.
Showing posts with label Estes Park Wool Market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Estes Park Wool Market. Show all posts
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Festivals and Spinning
It has been and will continue to be a busy weekend for me. Yesterday I participated in the Spin In at The Recycled Lamb Shop. There were lots of Ladybug spinning wheels in use and a few of us on drop spindles. I brought the cotton to spin on the drop spindle plus some blue merino/silk roving to spin on the wheel. Met lots of new spinners and learned cool things about birds and spinning dog hair.
Today was aiding in setting the booth up at the Colorado Renaissance Festival which is called Raven End. We cleared out what was the storage room to aid it in becoming a demonstration room. I learned to use a sander today and even did some minor painting. The owner would like me to do some demos during the festival which will be really cool. I have to be in medieval garb which we will be working on before the big day. Made some connections with a fellow knitter who is a writer and her hubby is a photographer. When I am profitable enough to outsource I at least have contacts. It was a good morning/afternoon of physical labor.
As the Estonian lace scarf is finished I have begun another hat. It will be in the lilac Aran wool yarn and I am tweaking the woven texture pattern to work in the round for the hat. Here I go designing again! So far it is turning out well but to get the pattern to show well the stitches are tight thereby making the hat smaller than originally attended. Oh well, if I get the pattern to turn out well I can always make others and increase the width by casting on more stitches. It is a work in progress and I am toying with adding garter or stockinette stitches into the design to break up the woven pattern a bit.
Tomorrow we are off to the Capital Hill People's Fair being held in downtown Denver. Of course next week is the highly anticipated Estes Park Wool Festival of course we are all still waiting to hear if the camelid animals will be allowed in this year's event due to the EHV-1 virus but according to the site all other animals will be there (sheep, goats, yaks, etc.). I am still on a mission to obtain hand carders. I tried to buy some from Woodland Woolworks but they sold out then went to The Recycled Lamb shop and they sold all of theirs. So third times the charm I am sure they will be many vendors selling these and I am in a serious mood to learn to rolags!
June is shaping up to be a busy and productive month and I hope the rest of the summer is just as busy! Off to knit more rows on the hat.
Today was aiding in setting the booth up at the Colorado Renaissance Festival which is called Raven End. We cleared out what was the storage room to aid it in becoming a demonstration room. I learned to use a sander today and even did some minor painting. The owner would like me to do some demos during the festival which will be really cool. I have to be in medieval garb which we will be working on before the big day. Made some connections with a fellow knitter who is a writer and her hubby is a photographer. When I am profitable enough to outsource I at least have contacts. It was a good morning/afternoon of physical labor.
As the Estonian lace scarf is finished I have begun another hat. It will be in the lilac Aran wool yarn and I am tweaking the woven texture pattern to work in the round for the hat. Here I go designing again! So far it is turning out well but to get the pattern to show well the stitches are tight thereby making the hat smaller than originally attended. Oh well, if I get the pattern to turn out well I can always make others and increase the width by casting on more stitches. It is a work in progress and I am toying with adding garter or stockinette stitches into the design to break up the woven pattern a bit.
Tomorrow we are off to the Capital Hill People's Fair being held in downtown Denver. Of course next week is the highly anticipated Estes Park Wool Festival of course we are all still waiting to hear if the camelid animals will be allowed in this year's event due to the EHV-1 virus but according to the site all other animals will be there (sheep, goats, yaks, etc.). I am still on a mission to obtain hand carders. I tried to buy some from Woodland Woolworks but they sold out then went to The Recycled Lamb shop and they sold all of theirs. So third times the charm I am sure they will be many vendors selling these and I am in a serious mood to learn to rolags!
June is shaping up to be a busy and productive month and I hope the rest of the summer is just as busy! Off to knit more rows on the hat.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Ribbons and fleeces
The annual fleece market day will be held at the Recycled Lamb shoppe in Lakewood, CO this Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This will be my first year attending the event and I will be helping the ATAR ranch with their alpacas on display at the shop. There will also be sheep and bunnies on display along with lots of fiber, tools and yarn for sale! My goal is to not spend more than $10 as I have 2 fleeces at the mill for processing and haven't had any sales thus far! I know it is only the beginning of May but the shop has 28 items and items have been featured in a few treasuries over the past few weeks.
Of course on Sunday is shearing day at the ranch so that will be another animal inspired and filled day for me too. It will be nice to see the alpacas and to see how big last year's babies have grown. I have 5 fleeces remaining to be sent to the mill but may pick up an additional color scheme to blend in with what I have on stock - maybe. It is possible to have too many fleeces when you don't live on ranch/farm. Need to find some venues to sell the rovings/yarn being created by the mill.
My yarn came back from the Great Western Alpaca Show competition and it placed 3rd - yippee! Given the comments on the judging and am taking that there were only 3 entries into this division but a ribbon is a ribbon. I also received some good constructive criticism and advice which I will be putting to use in the next batch of fiber I spin up. I am definitely going to enter my spindle spun yarn into Estes Park to get even more feedback and advice in the quest to improve my craft. Still it was very nice to receive a ribbon on my first venture into competition. Can't wait to show the ladies at the ranch and the shop this weekend. Need to also look into submission of mill spun yarn as a marketing tool for those products.
I have been working very hard on the Estonian scarf but I think it is time to set it aside for a bit and complete other projects. Need to purchase sachet bags/potpourri for the Mother's day presents along with buttons. The wheel hasn't been used in a week - sigh! On the other hand I did spin some alpaca fiber on my spindle during the trip so I wasn't totally ignoring my yarn spinning passion. My marketing and updates have been sketchy lately but the full time job has been a handful. Baby steps is what I keep reminding myself to take and not to panic too much if the plan is not working out as thought. This is all a new journey and each event is a learning experience which I am very grateful for. The fiber, knitting, craft community is such a great and supportive environment which has become a blessing to me over the past few years. My hope is that the items created which find new homes are able to bring a bit of happiness and comfort to their new owners over time.
Of course on Sunday is shearing day at the ranch so that will be another animal inspired and filled day for me too. It will be nice to see the alpacas and to see how big last year's babies have grown. I have 5 fleeces remaining to be sent to the mill but may pick up an additional color scheme to blend in with what I have on stock - maybe. It is possible to have too many fleeces when you don't live on ranch/farm. Need to find some venues to sell the rovings/yarn being created by the mill.
My yarn came back from the Great Western Alpaca Show competition and it placed 3rd - yippee! Given the comments on the judging and am taking that there were only 3 entries into this division but a ribbon is a ribbon. I also received some good constructive criticism and advice which I will be putting to use in the next batch of fiber I spin up. I am definitely going to enter my spindle spun yarn into Estes Park to get even more feedback and advice in the quest to improve my craft. Still it was very nice to receive a ribbon on my first venture into competition. Can't wait to show the ladies at the ranch and the shop this weekend. Need to also look into submission of mill spun yarn as a marketing tool for those products.
I have been working very hard on the Estonian scarf but I think it is time to set it aside for a bit and complete other projects. Need to purchase sachet bags/potpourri for the Mother's day presents along with buttons. The wheel hasn't been used in a week - sigh! On the other hand I did spin some alpaca fiber on my spindle during the trip so I wasn't totally ignoring my yarn spinning passion. My marketing and updates have been sketchy lately but the full time job has been a handful. Baby steps is what I keep reminding myself to take and not to panic too much if the plan is not working out as thought. This is all a new journey and each event is a learning experience which I am very grateful for. The fiber, knitting, craft community is such a great and supportive environment which has become a blessing to me over the past few years. My hope is that the items created which find new homes are able to bring a bit of happiness and comfort to their new owners over time.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Road Trip - On the road again!
I have just finished a 7 hour drive to beautiful southern Colorado today. Picking up the kid from college and a mini vacation. I brought my cloud fiber to spin on the spindle. Need to finish the sachet bag and will begin the Estonian lace scarf on this trip. The cabin is really nice and I did bring items to take photos of in the beautiful mountain area of Southern Colorado. There is a lake about 1/2 hour away and we are near a big hiking trail.
The Great Western Alpaca Show begins tomorrow and although I will miss it this weekend I did enter a skein of yarn into the competition. Competition life has definitely been a learning experience for me. First I forgot to provide postage on the return envelope. Then I forgot to provide a description of my item for the competition - somehow I missed this detail on the 2 page instruction form. I told the coordinator that this had definitely been a learning experience and next year I will rock at this process. The Estes Park Wool Market also has a yarn competition with a low entry fee. I am going to try to enter 2 items to it and hopefully will be able to make it to the judging event. I am thinking of entering my spindle spun yarn of alpaca and perhaps some roving. I need to check the rules to see if the spun items can be from rovings or must be hand processed. Apparently there is a big distinction in the competition arena of spun yarn.
One more weekend to shearing day and I have been reviewing my fleece sorting information to make this year's fleeces cleaner. Need to confirm with my rancher what she considers to be her prime, seconds and thirds as mills and hand spinners may have different expectations.
I ordered cotton bolls (10) from Woodland Woolworks which is sadly going out of business. I have always wanted to try processing cotton and took the leap this week and ordered the fiber. Will keep you posted on how well it turns out - am curious about how much fiber I can get from the 10 bolls. Then of course the next decision is what to ply it with for a knitting or yarn project. This summer is going to be a great journey into fiber events, projects and sales!
The Great Western Alpaca Show begins tomorrow and although I will miss it this weekend I did enter a skein of yarn into the competition. Competition life has definitely been a learning experience for me. First I forgot to provide postage on the return envelope. Then I forgot to provide a description of my item for the competition - somehow I missed this detail on the 2 page instruction form. I told the coordinator that this had definitely been a learning experience and next year I will rock at this process. The Estes Park Wool Market also has a yarn competition with a low entry fee. I am going to try to enter 2 items to it and hopefully will be able to make it to the judging event. I am thinking of entering my spindle spun yarn of alpaca and perhaps some roving. I need to check the rules to see if the spun items can be from rovings or must be hand processed. Apparently there is a big distinction in the competition arena of spun yarn.
One more weekend to shearing day and I have been reviewing my fleece sorting information to make this year's fleeces cleaner. Need to confirm with my rancher what she considers to be her prime, seconds and thirds as mills and hand spinners may have different expectations.
I ordered cotton bolls (10) from Woodland Woolworks which is sadly going out of business. I have always wanted to try processing cotton and took the leap this week and ordered the fiber. Will keep you posted on how well it turns out - am curious about how much fiber I can get from the 10 bolls. Then of course the next decision is what to ply it with for a knitting or yarn project. This summer is going to be a great journey into fiber events, projects and sales!
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