Lambtown 2023

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Robin

In the last post I wrote about the class I taught at Lambtown a couple of weeks ago. Now I want to share photos of my vendor booth and the sheep show.

I am still experimenting with posting from my iPad which isn’t as easy as from my computer. These photos are all entered as Medium size—that’s just a note to myself for when I review this later.

Bales of straw with the letters that say Lambtown in the early morning.

I ended up with a booth and a half space and now I’m spoiled. Will I ever want to go back to a single booth space? It’s hard to get a good feel for it from this photo. I used a rack in front to hold handwoven blankets. There wouldn’t not have been room in a single booth. There was plenty of room for people to wander in and really look at everything. There were so many people at Lambtown this year that I didn’t take this photo until after 4 on Saturday when I could finally step out of the booth. The following photos are some of the things I had in my booth.

I spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks packaging the flowers I grew and used for my own dyeing this year.

I had forgotten I had these in my shop on the farm because there is always something in front of them.

Year to Remember blankets, so called because I will custom weave these for people who want to commemorate a special year. These two use the same stripe pattern (although you can’t tell with them folded in this photo) but different colorways. The one on the left uses all naturally dyed yarns.

The hemp bag I made and wrote an article about for the most recent article of Little Looms.

The newest product in the shop and online.

The 2023 wool I just got back from the mill. I haven’t had time to put this online yet.

I have an odd variety of buttons in the shop and I brought these to Lambtown.

I brought four sheep skulls to Lambtown and sold them all. I have more at home I haven’t had time to finish.

Some of the silk scarves I’ve printed recently.

Timm Ranch yarn dyed with Indigo, hollyhock, madder, dahlia, and cosmos.

I had my own horn buttons with me and I love the way Siobhan used these two to create a closure for her woven piece.

That’s it for now. One more post for the sheep show.

Fibershed Brainstorming

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Robin

Yesterday I went to a meeting to discuss how to better use our Fibershed Marketplace and to find out what’s going on within our Fibershed. Part of the fun of the meeting was gathering at the Napa ranch of one of our members, Mary Pettis-Sarley.When I asked how many alpacas there are, Mary said between 150 and 200. They roam the hills on the ranch, accompanied by guardian dogs.This is one of the many ranch dogs that include guardian and herding dogs. We were told that this one is only 8 months old.Our meeting was in the greenhouse located near the field where the bucks live.This guy seemed pretty friendly.Before we started the meeting we admired each others fiber products. This is one of the Twirl yarns produced by Mary.This is what I brought to share–sheepskins, buttons, yarn, and shawls from my Jacob sheep. The new Timm Ranch yarn is at the lower left. Colleen's hat This is a felted hat made by Colleen Simon using my Jacob fiber.Here is Jackie showing a newly carded batt… Jackie's felt …and this is a piece she felted from the wool of Vicki, one of my Jacob sheep.We were able to see the recently produced Wool and Fine Fiber Book. Each producer has a spread in which samples of their fiber is attached. These books will be circulated to designers and manufacturers who want to find out what kinds of fiber are available locally, how to contact the producers, and to learn how these fibers might be used in end products. This was an amazing undertaking by Fibershed.

Speaking of amazing things, we learned about the “projects” that Fibershed founder, Rebecca Burgess, has underway. I say “projects” in quotation marks because really these are major undertakings and far beyond the scope of anything that I ever attempt. Rebecca is not only writing another book, but is working with the Wendell Berry Farming Center on hemp efforts in Kentucky, an initiative in California to legalize the growing of hemp for fiber use, research that is underway on waterless wool washing, and the carbon research project in which we can all participate by submitting soil samples from our farms. Whew! goat kid While hearing about all this we were also doing what Fibershed producers do best, eating and baby animal snuggling. This is a two-day old kid who needs some TLC. Dog and kid One of the dogs was feeling left out. Rebecca and kid Even Rebecca found some goat snuggling time.

Marilyn’s Fleece

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Robin

Marilyn is one of seven lambs that I kept from the 2013 lambing season.Here she is with her mom, Hot Lips. 1st place ewe lamb 3007 Marilyn was my choice to take to Black Sheep Gathering last year where she won her class. (Hot Lips was Champion Jacob Ewe at BSG when I took her there!)Here she is at 9 months old last fall. When Farm Club members chose their fleeces “on the hoof” I put my name on Marilyn’s.Shearing Day. Marilyn’s fleece looks brown, but those are sunbleached tips. This is what her fleece looks like from the cut side. Isn’t it gorgeous? Detail of the staples. Last week I carded Marilyn’s fleece on my Clemes & Clemes electric drum carder.

Here are the batts ready to spin. Hopefully there will be a post before too long in which I’ll have photos of finished yarn and a project. To be continued…

Fibershed Photoshoot

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Robin

How does the Fibershed Marketplace get all those great photos? It takes a lot of work from everyone who is involved in the photoshoot but the photos are a credit to the skill of our wonderful photographer, Paige Green. I hosted the spring photoshoot and my friend, Jackie, organized everything. Here are some of my photos from the day.We arranged items that were to be photographed. These are my Jacob shawls and scarves. Jackie‘s hot pads and bangles.Katharine Jolda‘s felted jacketWe turned one of my stalls into a dressing room. Shelby is a Farm Club member who consented to be one of our models. First photos of the day were Sally Fox’s sheepskins. There is a lot going on behind the scenes to create these photos. Alisa is Jackie’s daughter and she became one of the models. Her boyfriend, Mark, was indispensable in assisting Paige with her equipment all day.

This is Brooklyn, our youngest model. She wore a hooded jacket and wool socks. Meryl is being fitted by Marlie. Paige used a variety of settings during the day. In this scene Allie modes her rabbit-skin vest.
Rusty was involved in the activity all day. He will write his own blog post about his involvement. We used the sheep in the photos of my handwoven pieces. Meryl and Shelby modeled four shawls. Give us a few weeks and you’ll see all of these items and more available on the Fibershed Marketplace website.

Fleeces Revisited

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Robin

I haven’t finished getting the wool ready to send to the mill. Holidays get in the way. Now it’s COLD. Farm Club members have been helping and I think one more afternoon of skirting and sorting will do it. Sending wool off in January means I’m way ahead of my usual schedule.

If you are not excited about wool these photos won’t be very interesting. But to me they are a precursor of beautiful yarn and blankets.Alison’s fleece. The 3 x 5 cards provide scale (as well as remind me of whose wool is whose). Eliza’s fleece

Athena’s fleece is a little shorter than the others, but very soft. Miller is a ram lamb born last March. This fleece is only 9 months growth. I can’t wait for next year’s.Hattie’s fleeceDid I say it was cold while we were working? Mary and Dona helped one day and Linda on another. Here was the best place to stand–a south-facing wall in the sun. We already finished with your fleece, Jazz.

Fondling Fleeces

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Robin

On Shearing Day I sold over 20 fleeces but I was so busy that I didn’t get a change to really look at them. Today some Farm Club members came to help skirt and sort fleeces.

Most of the fleeces that are left will be sorted into white, black, and gray. That’s what those barrels in the background are for. However, I’m keeping my eyes open for a couple of fleeces for some special projects that I have in mind. The wool on the table is Donna’s fleece.

This is what Donna’s fleece looks like from the cut side. Isn’t that a beautiful shade of gray?

Here is Donna.

Here is a sample of Ventura’s fleece. This is another that I may spin myself.

Here are some more pretty fleeces.

Ginseng is a lilac lamb. Notice the change in color in the length of the staple–lightest color near the skin. It will be interesting to see what this fleece is like next year.

This is Ginseng and her spots don’t appear light.

Onyx’s fleece. I’m keeping this one also.

Lots of fluffy fiber

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Robin

I spent the day in Sacramento at the annual Open House. I took my new extra wide Ashford drum carder. Wow, is it a workhorse!

I washed two fleeces last night so that I’d have something to work on and I carded half of each.

I love this new carder and I can’t wait until I have time to spin this wool.

Where will you be Feb. 21?

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Robin

I know where I will be. I just transferred the breeding notes from my clipboard to my 2012 calendar (while learning to use the calendar in my Mac) and look what I discovered. I knew that a lot of sheep were bred all at once, but it’s more striking when I see it in this format.

That’s 23 ewes due in a 5 day span. I usually aim for March 1 lambs, but I got antsy and thought I’d start breeding a week earlier. After all, my friends will all be lambing and I’ll want to have a few of my own before the rush starts in March. I thought wrong. There are about 30 more in addition to those first 23. I guess I’ll be warmed up by the time they lamb.

I’ve been finishing up registration applications for this year’s lambs. It’s interesting to look at baby photos of sheep.

This is 11038, now known as Rosie. Notice how her pink nose develops pigment as she gets older.

Rosie was developing very nice horns and I had my eye on her from the start as one I wanted to keep. She got in the ram pen when she was a few months old and, in trying to get back with the ewes, she broke off both horns. They are still stubby, but stout.

Here is another. This is ram lamb 11094, the last ram of 2011, and sired by Sweetgrass Clint.

He is named Clapton and will be the sire of several lambs in 2012.

Clapton doesn’t look quite so nice after shearing…

…but his fleece is sure pretty.

Faulkner & Jerry

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Robin

I haven’t had time to sort many fleeces yet. In fact, other than those I’ve sold I have only skirted the ram and wether fleeces. But I’m very happy with those that I’ve seen.

This is the fleece of a wether, Jerry. He is mostly black, not a good Jacob trait, but he will get to live his life being Faulkner’s companion. Faulkner is the BFL ram and I am not going to subject him to living with a group of rams with huge horns.

Faulkner and Jerry

This is what Faulkner’s fleece looked like “on the hoof”. This photo was taken shortly after I got him so it had grown a lot since then.

This is a lock after shearing.

Less than a minute in hot soapy water.

Silky, white locks!

A sheep adventure with 2 friends and a dog

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Robin

I heard via e-mail that there were a couple of sheep in need of rescue. The owners had lost their property and had moved out of state. They needed someone to pick up the sheep. I don’t normally take in unwanted sheep, but these were two that had been purchased from me as lambs and had never been around other sheep or goats. So I rounded up my friends (Chris and Colleen) with the enticement (bribe) that there was another fiber event going on in the area and my dog and we drove to Placerville. The first hard part was finding the place. We had very detailed instructions, but I’m glad that there was someone to read them as I was driving.

I knew that Rusty couldn’t effectively herd these sheep with a cone on his head so I found a rib band from our collection of arm/foot/shoulder injury paraphernalia and put that around his middle so that the drain tube wouldn’t get hung up on a bush. The sheep gathering itself went surprisingly well (you can read about that on Rusty’s blog as he described it fairly well, if you can get over his know-it-all attitude). What Rusty didn’t say is that, even with his skill and expertise, we never would have got those sheep in without the extra friends and the panels.

Next stop was the Yarnival, a celebration of the opening of the PluckyFluff workshop at a winery in Placerville. It seems like I usually recognize everyone at out local fiber events, but the PluckyFluff following includes a different group of people. There were vendors, live music, and pizza on the winery grounds. I don’t usually take my dog to events like this, but I couldn’t leave him in the hot car (the sheep were OK in the back with the shade) so he came along.

The yarns are wild and crazy. I’m not sure how you actually use most of them, but they are certainly fun to look at.

This is a collection of handspun yarns from around the world made into the “world’s largest skein”.

Here is a detail of that yarn.

There were a few sheep and goats around. Isn’t this a beautiful colored Wensleydale? Do you notice the color of the dirt? Dirt in the Placerville area is red. That sure makes for a beautiful sheep, but I’m told that under that red color this sheep is really a brilliant white.

A huge Angora rabbit.

The little girl at the end of the bunny’ leash was walking it right towards Rusty. I told Rusty to lie down and cautioned the girl to avoid the dog.

An amusing sign.

Ideas for my husband since we have at least 3 places that need handrails.

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Life on the farm and at the loom.

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