Black Sheep Gathering

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Robin

Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon is an annual event but I usually get there every other year. When I go I take sheep. Estelle ready for her first road trip.

When we get there everyone is ready to get out of the truck. Farm Club members and other friends also drove to BSG. They were always ready to help with the sheep.After the truck ride the sheep need some touching up. They don’t get a full bath but we scrub the feet and legs.

The Jacob sheep show was Friday morning. It was a relatively small show this year with three farms represented.Nevertheless, I was pleased to win Champion Jacob ram with my ram lamb, Meridian Nash and… …Reserve Champion Jacob ewe with my yearling ewe, Meridian Jean.

Black Sheep Gathering is a great place to see a variety of breeds of sheep.My friends tried to talk me into bringing one of these BFL lambs home.

I don’t think that this yearling ram would have even fit in my truck.

There are great shopping opportunities in the vendor hall and in the barn. Dona shared her fabulous photos of wares for sale at BSG and the Eugene Farmers’ Market in the Meridian Jacobs Ravelry group here. I saw these in the vendor area: By the way, I’m planning my second annual estate sale for sometime in August!Seen in the parking lot.

Seen near the Farm Club chairs and spinning wheels. Dona and Mary said that they put on their 8th grade sleep-over hats for this shopping trip.

Farm Club at BSG For us Black Sheep Gathering isn’t just about the sheep and the shopping and the food. It’s also about spending time with friends.

Kirby in California Again

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Robin

Kurtis, Katie, and Kirby made a quick trip to California this month so there are some more cute granddaughter photos to share.

Getting ready for an outing. We spent a few hours with Uncle Matt and Aunt Kaleena at a park in Folsom. Matt entertained Kirby by blowing her hair, which she thought was very funny.

Kaleena’s necklace was quite an attraction.In her party dress with Aunt Meryl.

With Daddy.It was a long weekend for a little girl.

Psychedelia with no drugs

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Robin

I am going to teach a class called Color on the Loom and a friend brought me a useful tool. This is a teleidoscope and when you look through it whatever you see is changed into shapes and patterns. We thought that it might be an interesting way to look at yarns when selecting colors. In fact when looking up teleidoscope on Google here is what one reference said about how to use it: “1. Yarn … It’s hard to get a good idea of how the colors will blend until you have started your piece. Holding up balls of yarn next to each other in the store is good, but we like this method even better. …view the yarns together through your [teleidoscope]. You’ll get a much better idea of how the colors blend. Not only cool, but practical! Quilters love teleidoscopes and often use them as a tool to look at fabrics selected and see how they will look multiplied out as seen through a teleidoscope.”

In looking up the definition of a teleidoscope, “a kind of kaleidoscope, with a lens and an open view, so it can be used to form kaleidoscopic patterns from objects outside the instrument” I found a link to iPhone and iPad apps! What fun!! Look at what I saw:

Should I tell you what these things are or let you guess? My computer screen.

A ribbon from the fair.

Grass in the pasture.

A yarn chart.

The new cotton yarns I just got in the shop.

More yarn.

The barn roof.

Sheep in the pasture. I must say that some views are a little creepy–for instance when it’s a bunch of disembodied sheep noses.

Map of the U.S.Balls of yarn. Those above are all from the iPhone. With that app you can see all these cool designs but you have to take a screen shot to save them. I also got an app for the iPad and it’s a little different. There is a button in the app to take a photo. There are also a couple of sliders to change the effect you see. The following photos are the same view but with the slider moved from one end to the other.

Another great way to waste time when using technology! But it’s better for you than drugs. The iPad app is called Kaleio and the iPhone one is Teleidoscope.

Rescuing Ginny’s Toy (Twice)

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Robin

I got home after a few days away from the valley heat and saw that Ginny’s incision had healed. She was happy to have the cone taken off her collar and then be able to go for a walk.

It was still over 100 degrees at 7:30 when we walked Across the Road so the water in the ditch felt good. Ginny carried her Toy and in this photo dropped it at the side of the ditch before she got in. The idea, of course, is for me to throw it… …so she can chase it… …over… …and over. At one point Ginny dropped the Toy too close to the edge of the ditch. The toy used to float, but not anymore. Ginny went in after it but once it goes under water she can’t see it. The Toy is visible in those photos at the bottom of the ditch. Ginny stirred up the mud while swimming and that made the visibility worse for me. I ran to this crossing and saw that 2×4. I crossed the ditch and ran back to where the Toy was floating downstream and after awhile was able to rescue it. (It wasn’t easy to force the 2×4 down into running water when it really was meant to float.) We continued our walk but during one catch attempt the Toy bounced off Ginny’s mouth and into the ditch again. Again Ginny went in but couldn’t see it under the water. This time I found a tree branch to rescue the Toy. I’m going to have to pay more attention to where I throw it or find a toy that will float.

Weaving on the Go

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Robin

I have been gone for a few days but took a rigid heddle loom with me. What an easy way to enjoy weaving away from home. These are scarves in 3/2 cotton (which I have in the shop but isn’t on my website). A pressing when I get home will give them a more finished look.A wool scarf in Jaggerspun Maine Line wool. These three scarves are samples for a couple of classes, the new Color on the Loom (in July) and Learn to Weave on the Rigid Heddle Loom.

The following photos are of recent weaving in the shop.Jacob scarves with detail below.

Another warp of Jacob scarves.

I had the idea of weaving a wool checkerboard to sell through the Fibershed Marketplace and at the Artery. 924 checkerboard But first I used cotton–the same 3/2 cotton as the scarves in the first photo.

Using the the last of the warp I experimented with different weaving order. I think its interesting that at different angles it looks as though I used other colors but all the yarn here is black and white. By the way, I know that checkerboards are traditionally red and black but, oh well…

I don’t have a photo of the wool checkerboards yet but here are the checkers I made from horns. What do you think of the oblong shape?

In this photo the checkers haven’t been finished.In other weaving, this is the latest issue of Handwoven with my Yarn Lab article in which I compared fulling and felting of Imperial Yarn Company’s Columbia and Erin yarns.

Ginny’s Recovery

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Robin

Ginny is at that age where I realized that it was time for her little operation. I’m going to be gone off and on this summer and after I looked up info about dogs coming into heat I realized that I couldn’t leave and think that someone else might have to deal with that. Ginny was a sad puppy when I picked her up from the vet office Wednesday evening. They hadn’t done the spay operation until the afternoon so she was still woozy and tired all night. The next insult was The Cone, but it didn’t hold her down long. She figured out how to pick up her favorite Toy even if i was underneath the cone. This is one day after the spaying and she expected me to throw the Toy. I guess she didn’t read the instructions. This is the next day (2 days after spaying) and she is rolling around with Rusty. No jumping or climbing here and only a little bit of running. Maybe I can discontinue the pain killers.

Dyeing with Cochineal

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Robin

Last week my long-time friend, Irene (owner of Cotton Clouds) visited with new friend, Rocio. Rocio is an expert natural dyer and she showed the rest of us how to dye with cochineal. We started in the theater (aka garage) to watch a PowerPoint presentation about cochineal.Cochineal is an insect that lives on a particular species of cactus. It is harvested and dried.The red color becomes obvious after the dried insects are ground.

These are some of the scarves that Rocio has dyed.

Dyeing with cochineal is a multi-step process and those steps differ depending on whether you are dyeing protein fiber (wool, silk) or cellulose fiber (cotton). Participants were able to dye both.

Preparing mordant bath.

Squeezing out fabric.

Mordanted scarves and sample pieces hanging to dry.

Adding ground cochineal to the pot.

Stirring one of three pots we had going. These pots simmered while we moved on to the next step.

Rocio showed us how to use varying concentrations of mordant solutions to create different shades of color. From two “mother” solutions, one with iron and one with alum, we ended up with nine different concentrations.

When stamped on fabric you get those shades seen in the squares.

When the cochineal pots were ready they needed to be strained.

Fabric was dyed…

…and rinsed.

Leftover dye was saved and now is in my freezer waiting until I have time to use it.

Rocio and Irene with some of the scarves dyed that day.

Since I was the hostess I didn’t have time to dye scarves but I did make a sample using the different mordant concentrations. Rocio says that if I wash this in a wheat bran solution the gray areas will turn white. I need to try that.Happy dyers at the end of the day. Oh..dogs were there too. Look at Rusty’s blog for photos.

Dogs in Our Lives

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Robin

This post started as a way to show what Rusty looked like at the age Ginny is now. Ginny is 7 months.I got Rusty when he was 6 months old.

This post has evolved into photos of the other dogs that have been in my life. I am clearing off my old computer before I get rid of it and I found photos that had never been transferred. Then when I searched dogs on my computer I found old scanned photos too. So here you go.This is my mom sometime in the mid-70’s. Murka is the German Shepherd that was our family dog. Blue is on the couch–he was my mom’s dog that she found somehow. I have forgotten the story. Katya or “Kat” is on the table. She was my half-Keeshound (supposedly the other half was coyote) who was very loving but timid, especially of men…like Bonnie and Maggie, who both came to me later. I had Kat through my moves to Utah and Arizona, but she died before I came back to California. Then there was a no-dog period although mom had Blue. When the kids were young and we lived at the dairy we had Brandy and Flash, both rescues of one sort or another. Brandy was given away by someone who also gave us a huge bag of all the flea and anti-itch things that didn’t work on her and Flash was found in a parking lot by a veterinarian I used to work for. I got him as a puppy. Brandy died while we were still at the dairy, but not long after we moved to our current location in 1999 we got Benny, rescued in the Safeway parking lot. Doc, on the left, showed up as a lost dog and was later identified by his owners from just down the road. They took him back but I told them that if they ever wanted to give him away I’d take him. They moved and didn’t want him. He was a wonderful dog, but was killed by a big truck on the road when he chased Benny, who is the only dog we’ve had that would leave the barn to run to the road.I got Rusty after Flash died, but while we still had Benny. My son and DIL got Sam the next year.This is what Sam looks like now. He outweighs Rusty by at least 50 pounds. That’s his buddy, Kirin, who is even bigger now. Bonnie came later. She is the only dog that I have given away but she went to a life that is much better for her. That’s a long story that Rusty has told in his blog.Rusty’s role is as a herding dog. He helps me when I need it but doesn’t have nearly as much work as he’d like.Benny died a few years ago and I wanted to get a dog as a buddy for Rusty. That’s when I got Maggie through Dog Spot Rescue. Rusty told that story too. So now there is Rusty and Maggie……and Ginny.

Ginny is the only dog here that likes to play with toys. While I was working in the garden she dug that hole specifically to bury her toy. Rusty has the last laugh.

A Spring Morning in the Pasture

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Robin

I was going to write this post about ewes and their lambs but found a lot more subjects to photograph–not all sheep. Loretta and triplets.Ginseng and twins. Look at the horn spread on that ram lamb. They all have lilac coloring.This is Foxglove’s ram lamb, also a lilac.Puddleduck Melinda and one of her lambs. Alexandria.Eliza.It is balloon season. Rusty is hiding in the barn. These ewes were waiting for me to change the fence and let them into that tall grass but I was distracted by other things. Do you see the bird on the fence behind them? Don’t look too hard for it. See it below.I looked it up. Western Kingbird. I know my birder friends will tell me if I’m wrong.I think there is pair nesting nearby. I was mowing the pasture later in the day and they followed the tractor catching bugs. They would zoom off toward the trees and then come back for more. Balloon getting lower. In the meantime… Hawk with prey …I saw this hawk being harassed by another bird. Hawk with prey (1) I didn’t know until I zoomed in on the photo on my computer that the hawk had something in it’s talons.

Balloon has landed and now I can change the fence. Happy sheep.

Walking in the Woods

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Robin

I went to a party at my kids’ house in Pollock Pines but I went a few hours early to do a little hiking. They were busy with getting ready so I went off by myself. I don’t do that very often–at least not somewhere other than around here. I guess I wasn’t completely alone because I had Ginny with me. I couldn’t take all three dogs because the property below where my kids live is part of the Sly Park Recreation Area and dogs are supposed to be on leash–I can’t deal with all three on the leash. Besides I didn’t want three dogs party-crashing.

This is a leisurely walk, all downhill at the beginning and then around the lake. As usual I had my camera and this time it didn’t matter how long I sat in a field of yellow flowers to get the right photo. There are hiking and horse trails all through the area and I walked down one that……meets up with a short nature trail that follows a creek on it’s way to the lake.

There is a cedar bark dwelling replica just off the trail. Sly Park, Jenkinson Lake This is Jenkinson Lake. There camping areas all around it and lots of people on this Memorial Day weekend. I had Ginny on the leash and she had a lot of lessons in good behavior when meeting kids, bikes, etc. Matt had told me that it was about 10 miles from their house, around the lake, and back. When I was standing here I though that maybe I’d do that instead of just an out-and-back walk. I would continue to the left in this photo, go around the dam in the center of the photo and back to their place.After walking some more I came to this part of the lake and decided that maybe an around-the-lake walk wasn’t going to work for today. This is a finger of the lake that juts back up the valley and I would have to walk all the way around this part and the main part of the lake in the other photo. So I went a little further up the west side here and then turned around but took a higher trail back that avoided some of the crowds that were nearer the lake.This is Ginny sitting on the dock. She didn’t seem to care that the ground under her was rocking.That low growing shrub is mountain misery and here are some close-ups. Mountain misery, Chamaebatia foliolosa Mountain misery is unique to the western slope of the Sierras and there is a lot of it. It has a pungent oily sap and can play a role in preventing erosion to hillsides in the years following major fires. On the other hand those same deep far-reaching roots use up a lot of moisture and may prevent other plants from becoming established. Mountain misery, Chamaebatia foliolosa I don’t live in the mountains so don’t deal with it as a “weed” and I like the fragrance–it reminds me of the forest after a rain.I came across a small area of striking yellow on a south facing slope. I didn’t identify these flowers but in their midst I found some… monkey flower, Mimulus sp …monkey flowers. At least I’m pretty sure they are Mimulus but I don’t know which species.What I noticed first about them were the seed pods. Monkey flower, Mimulus sp seedpod What I noticed first about them were the seed pods.

The deep green of the trees was in striking contrast to those yellow flowers but the new growth of the trees is a contrast of greens in itself. Back to the more shady woods, taking one of the trails up to the house.

Wild rose.

I don’t remember this one but do you see what is on the leaf?

Sly Park, Jenkinson Lake Don’t tell Rusty and Maggie where we were. I feel guilty leaving them home. This was fun for Ginny and me and Ginny got about 6 miles of on-leash work on manners.

Meridian Jacobs' Blog

Life on the farm and at the loom.