It’s been over two months since the last newsletter (through the website, not this blog) and I have too many items to share in the newsletter I need to write. I think it makes more sense to write a blog post and link to that. It’s important for me to get a newsletter out before Lambtown in Dixon which is a week away. Besides there are other things I want to share here.
Last Saturday was Open Farm Days in Pleasants Valley, just north of Vacaville. Seven farms were open and some hosted other vendors. I was at Brazelton Ranch.
I will have all these things and more at Lambtown. I have twenty new sheepskins back from the tannery. I will have the 2026 roving after I pick it up from the mill next week. I also plan to package up more dye flowers.
I will have handwoven blankets, towels, shawls, and scarves with me.
I have been dyeing and I’ll have those yarns and more at Lambtown. This will be the last of the 2025 Timm Ranch yarn and caps and I’m not sure when the 2026 yarn will be finished.
Speaking of Timm Ranch yarn, a visitor came to the farm and bought yarn a few days before this event. She came to this farm on Saturday and showed me the headband she had knitted. Isn’t it beautiful?
Speaking of headbands–that could be to keep your ears warm or to hold your hair in place. That makes me think of these horn rings I make from the Jacob horns. I label them as shawl pins, but maybe if I had long hair one of these would work for that too. I will have a whole new batch for Lambtown.
Other horn products are the buttons and skulls.
Here is a new product. I have been dyeing bandanas and will have about forty with me. What fun! They are listed on the website. I should do a blog post of all the ways a bandana could be useful in your life.
This space was near mine. There were eight painting students. They started with a lesson in preparing the background on the canvas and were guided through the color of the sky before I took this photo.
I got a kick out of looking over occasionally and seeing mountains…and then later, trees. It turns out that the teacher is a Bob Ross, Inc certified instructor who lives just up the road and leads painting parties and gives lessons. I remember Boss Ross from the PBS show, but had no idea that there was a business based around his work. The students all walked away with a finished painting that afternoon, and a t-shirt.
I thought I’d throw in this photo. It reminds me of what I say in weaving classes. Anytime you use a new yarn or draft it’s an experiment, even though you may not think the accidents are always happy, at least at the time.
Back home that evening, with Jade who wanted a selfie.
As I said in one of the previous posts this theme started with the idea of using the old windows that were around here. As you enter the gallery you see the title and the Artist’s Statement. If you want to read that click here.
This is the wall to the right…
…and these are some of the sheep.
More sheep.
Continuing around the gallery there is this collection of photos. I used two of these six-pane windows to display photos and give a feel for the farm. These are not for sale because they are too rotten (people have asked) but some of the photos have been matted or framed and are for sale.
This is the Solano Colors wall and the yarns are the 
If you look at the previous photo again you’ll see that the shawls and the yarn are hanging on what looks like bamboo. I decided to use the Arundo (an invasive species that grows on our north border and had big hollow stalks like bamboo) for hanging the pieces in the show. It was in keeping with the rest of the props (stuff found on the farm), I have an infinite supply of it, I could cut it to any size, and it is free. The perfect solution! Originally I had planned to use the Arundo for weaving, but I just didn’t get to it. On the morning I was to set up the show I got up early with a lot on my mind. I got out the loom that I had already warped for this and I wove this piece. It inspires me to do more because I think it is very cool.
Moving on around the room this is the next grouping. Those scarves were woven on a space-dyed warp that I dyed a few years ago and found in a box on the shelf. Do you see something hanging to the left?
I wanted to do something interesting with the weeping willow branches after stripping the leaves for the dye pots. I tried weaving with them but I think I like this mobile best.
The Sunflower wall is around the corner. These are rayon chenille scarves in the colors of the sunflower field that was Across the Road last summer. I didn’t just stick with the yellows and oranges of the flowers but included all the colors of the fields.
Here is a closer view of the flower scarves.
In addition to the window pane photo collage, I included this piece that is not for sale. I wove this years ago when we lived and worked on our family dairy.
This close-up includes my daughter carrying milk buckets, my sheep, and our pony.
Here is another farm photo collection.
These ponchos and ruanas use the same yarns as the Solano Colors wall, but mostly in natural sheep colors. There are also a couple of handspun Jacob pieces here.
Close up of a ruana.
The display in the center of the room is really panels out of my sheep trailer. I used them to hang my blankets and some scarves.
Here is an overall view of the room…
…and this is the table in the doorway when you come in. The notebook is for visitors’ comments. I’d love to see your comments as well.
into the corner at the end of the room. I didn’t finish until the next day.
This is some of the blankets all tagged and ready to show again.
