February 24th
I am just rolling up my sleeves to clean up the barn for shearing. We got a new skirting table this year to help us accomodate our growing flock and their lovely fleeces and I can't wait to get it set up. It's still cold in Minnesota and I am only good for a couple of hours at a time of working in the cold before I start to nicely freeze.

February 20th, 2006
Spent the afternoon cleaning and refinishing a fabulous antique spinning wheel, (circa 1800) which we inherited from the Loomis family home in Connecticut. I can't tell the exact maker as most of the label has worn away but the last letters of the name are NROSS. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. We used Murphy's Wood Cleaner to remove 150 years of oily dust and then soothed the wood with a Linseed Oil/Mineral spirit combination. I am missing I believe, the flyer and bobbin unit, but right now I am not concerned with using it as much as recovering it.


February 18th, 2006
My family went skiing for the weekend and left to my own devices I jumped right into the dye pot! I am color testing right now as I develop a color pallette for this year's wool. As always, color combinations will reflect the colors found on the farm. We are on a migratory path for Monarchs so those colors will be certain to fly through the fibers on my yarns, top and roving.

I had splendid success working on the Summer Marsh combination - it came out perfectly the first time.

My blue sky however was a beautiful ocean blue. Nice for a small project but I want to capture the pale blue of my big prairie horizon. I am seeking that almost transparent blue and I got the rich blue of the Carribean!

Playing with the antique color combinations from Karen Kahle's Dusty Little Dye Book, I got some rich tones for the Oak Forest in Fall. I can't wait to knit it up and then start dyeing in bulk for elven knitters !