My $700 skein of yarn.

I am SO glad I went to this spinning class at the John Campbell Folk School. I learned so much. And now I CAN SPIN! I will be able to spin my own wool from my own sheep now! I am beyond thrilled about this. I also learned how to use a drop spindle. 2 different kinds. I am very impressed with myself and proud of me too. It was so much fun.

This is the yarn I spun at the school. Some Corriedale roving. Very easy to use.

This is what I've done at home. I am getting better at getting the fiber smaller so I can get more on the spindle. Or bobbin. What is this called? I would love to take a class now on the mechanics of the wheel. What everything is called and how it works. I need to know these things as well. At any rate, I LOVE spinning! On the wheel and the drop spindles.

This is my home made Lazy Kate. I have my great grand mother's but it's too narrow to hold these newer bobbins. So I used to rods and put them through this basket. Works great!

And this is some of the spun yarn, plied.  Pretty big.  I am already spinning smaller.

This is some of the washed Romney fleece I had gotten from the fiber show a few weeks ago. I carded up 5 batts  and spun away. I am loving Romney. It's SO soft.

This is some of the Romney, spun. You can see how much smaller it is here than the white. I already have 2 bobbins full so far. Need to get the rest of that fleece washed up.

I really loved that school. And it's only about 100 miles from here. I had called to get a room because I couldn't find any hotels in Murphy. I got a room in the Bidstrup  House. With a shared bath. Which I didn't mind. But specifically said I did not want a shared room. So when I got there, I went to register. Got my room # and found the house. It looked like a little Hobbit house. All I could see was the roof. I had to walk down and behind to get to the door. A long hallway with rooms on either side. Cold. I found my room. It was the size of a small bedroom, with 2 twin beds, really close together. I saw another name on the door with my name. Then the door opened and this little lady walked in. And to my room. My little room mate. I almost cried. So I went back up to the registration office and told her I was not happy. I wanted my own room. SO she looked and found me another room. I would have to upgrade, which was fine with me. It ended up being a huge room with 2 double beds and a bathroom in the room!!! And upstairs from my classroom! I was a very happy camper then. And had a great time the rest of my stay.

There were people from all over the country there. Some families. One of the girls in my class was from Brooklyn, NY. If anyone can go, I highly recommend this place. I would love to take the pottery class next.  Sunday, we all had to display our work in the 2nd floor of the house I stayed in. It was amazing seeing all the beautiful things all these people had made that week. Very impressive indeed. I will go back.

But glad to be home. It's freezing here. Had out 1st snow of the season yesterday. Already found 2 dead hens in the past several days. The sheep of course are loving this cold weather. They are dressed for it. I hope you all stay warm and happy the rest of the week!

Going away!

I'm heading out in the morning for Brasstown, N. Carolina, for my spinning class! I'm so excited! I hope I can do this. I'm taking my spinning wheel, so I can see if they can get it going for me. If I'm going to be spinning on my wheel, I want to learn on it. And I'll take some of my roving too, just to make sure it's spinnable.

I am so ready for a weekend away. I hope my camera stays charged. I can't find my little charger.

I also hope it doesn't snow. There were flurries this afternoon here. And there will be a hard freeze tonight. And I did hear there could be snow where I'll be on Sunday. Not ready for that.

Y'all have a great weekend! Be back next week. Hopefully with some hand spun yarn. Wish me luck, y'all!

Mrs. T.

Mrs. T is 97 years old. She tells everyone she's 100. We all just let it go now. If she wants to be 100, then 100 she shall be.

And this is what she does when she goes outside for a walk. She cannot just go out and enjoy the beauty of her yard. She has to work. She has always taken care of her almost 3 acre yard. It's called Azalea Hill. There must be over a hundred azaleas here. Her mother started planting them, then she added a lot more. It's beautiful in the spring. She used to have garden tours and garden parties. People come to take pictures. It's just amazing, this yard.

And when she would go out before, when she could go out and walk alone, she would always have an armload of sticks to take to her ever growing brush pile. She was always working, while walking.

So this is what she does now. I had wheeled her out to her "formal" garden, with this bench at the end for her to sit and enjoy the beautiful fall colors. Then ram inside real quick to grab my camera. This is what I saw when I came back. She had reached down and got a stick and was raking the leaves at her feet. Typical mrs. T. Even though she can't really walk too good anymore, she can still do this.

I had to call her name several times to get her to look up. She's so beautiful. Just so photogenic. I love this lady.

Fall, in Mrs. T's beautiful yard this week...

In the mail...

I had ordered some things from Jeff and Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots last Sunday from their Etsy shops. And I got them Thursday.

I ordered the hand made wooden earrings with beets on them for a friend. Jeff made these. They are so cute. I just might have to keep them.

He also makes these wooden buttons from reclaimed wood from around their property in Oregon. They are all hand done. I love them.

Also some organic seeds. Mullein, stinging nettle, cat nip and kale. And there are a whole lotta seeds in those little envelopes. I think I will have to share the mullein seeds.

Thank you Jeff and Taryn Wilson! Y'all need to go check out her blog too. woolymossroots. I love it.  And her Etsy shop of the same name. Jeff's shop is Mystic Orb. Really nice things there.

We're ready now.

Finally got a nice huge round bale of hay delivered today for the sheep and alpacas. It's nice loose small hay too. Just right for the sheep. They are quite picky animals when it comes to their hay. And it fit perfectly in this middle stall, so they have plenty of room to fit around it and still get out of the rain.

This is some of them, checking out the hay. I feel so much better now. I was getting a little worried. I wanted to just use round bales this winter, because it would be so much cheaper and less waste. And would last so much longer too. And NO hauling hay to them twice a day now! I am good with that! And the people about 2 miles from me can deliver it!

I made these 2 little cuties today from Adelaide's pretty long locks. I love them.  They are so fluffy and sweet. I love making these little guys.

Happy hump day, y'all! Have a good one. I am off to market.

Fiberintheboro...

 I went to a fiber show in Murfreesboro, Tn. Saturday with my niece Jill. I had so much fun. My very first fiber show.  I was told if I saw a fleece I really wanted, to get it. I didn't. And I missed out on a beautiful black Romney fleece, for $5 a pound. I am still mad at myself for not getting it when I saw it. I am a slow learner. But I did get a lot of good fiber.

The black fleece is Wensleydale. The white is Cotswold and Teaswater locks. These are so pretty. The colored roving in the front is Mohair, from goats. The lady said $1 each at first then when we were going to buy them all she said maybe $2 each. Which was fine because we told her she needed to make some money. They are so soft. I would love to have one of each of these sheep, and a few goats,  one day.

On the left is a pretty alpaca. I got 2.5 oz. of this. I love the soft light brown color. And I also got 2 huge balls of this pretty green roving. It says what it is on the tag. I can't remember now. It's so soft.

This is a Shetland ram lamb fleece. $10. It's so pretty and long locks. Needs washing.

This is from the same place that had the black fleece. When I went back to get the black, of course it was gone. I had also seen this fleece, so went ahead and got it. Almost 6 pounds at $5 a pound. I know! It is beautiful. Romney. I pulled it out of the bag yesterday over at the studio to see what it looked like. It's huge. Some of it is full of VM really bad. But most is really nice and clean. Can't wait to see it all cleaned up.

And this is the gray Icelandic roving I traded for some soap from Jessica in NY. It's really pretty and soft too. Don't know what I'll do with this yet. It's a pound.

I wanted to see what Jacob fleece felt like. I did not like it. Really course and not very soft at all. Good for felting I think. S I didn't get any of that. Didn't see any Finn there. And also, when I was asking about a diz, no one knew what I was talking about. I thought that was strange. I did buy a set of really pretty pottery buttons that I could use for a diz. That's what makes the roving off a carder.

So it was a fun day. And funner getting all this prettiness out of the bags to look at and touch all over again. And now to figure out what to do with it all. I will  maybe take some to the school in a few weeks to learn to spin it. I'll be washing the 2 fleeces this week and carding it. Looking forward to going!

I hope you all have a fabulous week! And stay warm. We have the wood stove roaring away. With the windows open! It's quite warm in here. Oh, and we are being taken over by flies. Oh my goodness, I have never seen so many flies. When I got home Sat. I could not get in my kitchen door for all the flies cakes on it. It was scary. They are all back again this morning, catching the sun. I hate flies. Anyone else being invaded by flies?

Campbelle. And 36 years.

Mom and I drove down to get my sister Monday to take her to Savannah for surgery Tuesday. Heidi had a job interview at Ga. Southern before we left for Savannah. She was already so stressed about the surgery, so we hope her interview went well and she gets the job. She's worked there before for several years before she moved to Colorado. So we all hope she gets back in there again. With her house burning and not being able to find a contractor to rebuild, plus everything else going on, she has had a rough time of it for the past few months. She needs some good stuff to happen. She'll be looking for an apartment so she can get closer to GSU while they are rebuilding her house.

We stayed til Wed. when they finally let her out if the hospital. At 3:30. What happened to discharging patients before 11:00? Geeze, all the computer work these days is crazy! So we got her back to her daughter's and settled in. It was about 6 by then. And we had another 300 miles to drive. Got to mom's about 12:30. She was so tired. I kept trying to get her to lay the seat back so she could sleep. She said she can't sleep in a car. But I'd look over at her and her head would be down flat on her chest. Poor mom. She got a little sleep. But she's in bed by 7 most every evening.  So I know she was slap worn out.

I got home about 1:30. Soon as I got out of the car, I could hear a lamb, far away. All the other sheep were right where I could see them. I'm the only one with sheep within several miles. So I knew it was one of my babies, calling for help. I got my flashlight (thank you SO much Sue! That little tiny flashlight is amazing and bright and I can see all over with it. Best little flashlight ever.) and took off for the front corner of the pasture, where I knew she was. I knew who it was, because she'd been in the same place a few days earlier. Poor Campbelle. I don't know how long she'd been there, but my husband said he heard baaaaing when he got home after dark too. But didn't associate it with a lamb needing help.

I have a cattle panel in front of some field fence in the corner of the pasture, where my cow had messed the fence up years ago. This is how I fixed it. This lamb has been stuck in the same place a few times already. All I have to do is lift up on the field fence and she can get out. Poor baby. She was probably there all day like that. She was a little wobbly when we started walking back. So I moved the sheep back over to the other side til I can get that fence fixed properly.

She's one of my 3 bottle babies. One of the quads. She's the sweetest one of the whole bunch. I can get all the sweet lamb kisses I want from her and she just lets me. I love her. And I would hate for anything bad to happen to her.

This is some of the other sheep, in the back pasture. Don't know why Campbelle was in the back yard by herself. But then some of the other lambs came to be with her.

It's such a beautiful day today. Cool, but nice. I'm washing and hanging clothes out on the line.

That darn rat is still hanging out under the sink. The other day, I noticed this thick brown liquid on the floor under the cabinet.  It was some furniture polish that the nasty rat had bitten into the bottle and gotten all over the cabinet under the sink. So it's nice and stained real pretty. And I got it cleaned good while I did that. I never did find the bottle.

When I got home last night, I heard some noise and went to look under the sink. There was a bottle of vinegar water on it's side with holes chewed in the bottom of the bottle. Got that cleaned up and thrown away.

Then this morning I was looking for a bucket and saw this. In the bucket. It's my hand milker. Without the rubber tubing and syringe that hooked to the teat. Gone. Can't find it anywhere under there. I can tell it's been chewed off. I guess that nasty rat is making a nest? Ugh! I am going to have to get a trap. This is getting bad. Stupid rat.

While we were gone, me and hubby celebrated our 36th anniversary. Apart again. I think the past 30 years, we have never spent one together. He's been on the road. And last year, he got home and almost died. But he got me roses. And he sent me a text with a picture of my roses for this year, while me and mom were waiting for my sister's surgery to be over.  I almost cried. He's so sweet. Don't tell him, but I really never have liked roses. But he's always gotten them for me. One year, he had to leave the day before our anniversary. When I got up the next morning, he had yellow roses in the fridge. I did cry then. It's just the fact that he's always done this for me. No matter what. Last year, he could barely walk and was so sick. But he went to a store and hobbled inside to get my roses. Then got to his truck stop and called me and said he didn't think he'd make it home. He was in the hospital 7 days. One year ago. I do love him. And his roses.

Washing fleeces...

 A few days ago, I washed Amarillo's wool from this past spring. I used nearly all that was in the bag. Just a little tiny bit was no good. I was really pleased with how well it turned out. It's very white and fluffy and soft. I really don't know all the terminology that goes along with wool and fleeces and such. I watched some good you tube videos on how to wash fleeces and just went from there.

This is Amarillo's fleece. It just kept coming out of the bag. There was a lot of it. And not too awfully dirty either. Not much work in this one.

And it's really pretty. All of this I am thinking can be spun on the wheel for yarn. When I learn to spin. In 3 weeks. I am so excited to be going to the John Campbell Folk School in N. Carolina to learn to spin. And they will also teach up to the spinning as well.  So when I come back home, I just might know what all this means.

And today, I decided to get Adalaide's bag of wool out and start washing it. Man, was it a mess! Full of VM and nastiness. Took a while to just get it all untangled and looked over. And she has some really nice wool right now. I might have to look into getting a coat for her and Amarillo. They are both full Finn. And this was their 1st time being sheared.

Just look how nasty this is. A whole lot of it was so matted together I don't think I'll be able to use it.

This is really pretty here. So nice and fluffy. And some pretty good crimp, I hope.

This is the really crimpy part of her fleece. There was a lot of this. I tried to keep most of it together.

                                   Here it is in the wash water. And it's not pink. Just the lighting.

And all washed up on the drying rack. When it's all clean and white like this, I see all the crap I missed. But I'll get it all clean as I pull it apart.

I still have a little more of Adalaide's to wash tomorrow. I just got tired of doing it and it was getting dark over at the studio.

The 1st weekend in Nov. is a fiber show in Murfreesboro, Tn. I am going with my niece on Sat. I have never been to one before and am very excited. And a little nervous. I'm afraid I'm going to want a little of everything there. I do want to try some different fiber from different breeds. I would like to get a few different breeds for my farm later.So I hope there will be sheep there to see. If anyone is up this way next weekend, come by the fiber show.  I have to clean out my Trooper so I will have room for wool!

I hope you all have a great weekend. It's beautiful here.

Thursday...

Last night, on the way home from market, I saw a few houses with smoke coming out the chimneys. I just imagined how nice and warm it would feel inside. So when I got home, I saw smoke coming out our chimney. My husband had started a fire in the wood stove. But when I walked inside, the house was full of smoke! It was not very inviting at all. He said he was having a hard time getting the fire going, so had to crack the door, so all that smoke just came into the house. We had to open doors and windows. But he finally got it going and we are nice and toasty. This week is good weather for a fire. But starting Saturday, back up into summer again. Highs at night in the 50's and 60's with days in the 70's and 80's. So we'll let the fire go out Sat. morning. Anyone else have fires going?

I had some hay left from when the bucks were here, so I gave some to the sheep. They're nibbling on it. I'm just waiting til next week to get a round bale delivered for them. It's that time again. There's still green grass for them to eat.

Here's Stella, sitting in the sun by the front door. My husband brought the "wood box" in and started filling it up. See all the stuff that comes off the wood that we have to sweep up all day? What fun!

Tuesday, mom and I went out. She had an eye appointment that took a few hours. She got to see the eye doctor after all the eye tests the before person does. Then she went into another room and this really old man with a white coat came in. I mean really old man. And the nurse was pretty old too. She's already had her eyes dilated, but she put more drops in her eyes. So this doctor checked her eyes for 30 minutes. With all kinds of what I thought looked like antique devices. he was very thorough for sure. And the nurse put all he said into the computer. When they were done, we went up to the check out and I asked how old the doctor was. She said 88. I was amazed at how good he was. She said he's the best eye doctor they have.

We were starving so we went to the Chinese buffet around the corner. Ate like pigs. It was so good. Then went to Target. I found these boots. I love them. So warm and comfy.

This is so funny! Whatever is coming from under the house into the cabinet under the sink is driving Bubba crazy. It hasn't been back in about a week, since he spent so much time hunting it.  I heard it again a few nights ago. I opened the door and in Bubba went. I shut the door just for fun. Tried to get a picture of him opening the door but I couldn't get the camera to work fast enough. Stella is waiting for him to come out here. She kept watching the door. He was in there about 5 minutes. Silly dog. He just wants to kill something so bad. I hope he gets whatever it is real soon.

It hasn't rained in over a week here! We are actually pretty dry in most places. Except under the cedar trees. I need to have at least 8 of them cut down. They are so thick, the sun can't get through to dry the ground. So it stays muddy most of the time. But it's been really nice lately. I hope the trees will start turning now.

Going to work in the studio today to get ready for the next few weeks. Next Wed. market will be  3 hours. I did really good last night, so I hope to do even better next week. Some Chattanooga chefs will be cooking food from farmers and bringing it that day. So we hope to draw lots of shoppers in.

Bee talk.

This morning, while I was sitting outside bagging up lettuce for market this afternoon, I had a visitor. One of my sweet honey bees landed on my right hand and stayed awhile. We talked a bit about the cooler weather we're having this week. And how they are loving the sugar water I'm giving them every day now. And how they are busy kicking out all the lazy honey eating drones in both hives. I told her that's so sad, but I know it needs to be done so the her and all her sister workers will have enough honey to get through this winter. Then she left. Flew off to who knows where. That was fun.

It is the perfect fall week this week. Highs in the 70's. Lows at night in the 40's. Perfect. We haven't turned any heat on yet. just piling on the blankets and wearing flannel. Getting the yard mowed and looking good. Picking up all the branches that fall from the maple trees. We'll have a bonfire soon. I love this time of year.

I've seen some wooly worms around the farm. They are all black. Can't remember what that means. Will we have a hard cold winter or a mild winter? Does anyone know? I would love to have a dry winter. Not rainy, muddy or cold. We have enough firewood to get us through, I believe.


I have to go to the farmer's market this afternoon. I love going. It's fun, talking to people and meeting new people. But it's gonna be a cold afternoon!

It's the weekend y'all!!!

And it's finally feeling like fall. Chilly nights. Cool days. Bright blue sky. And pretty red berries.

It's been awhile...

since there have been goats in the back yard.

I'm buck sitting for some friends up the road. These guys are starting to bother the does, who are their mothers and sisters. Not a good thing. So they are here til they find new homes. Which I hope is only a few days.

They have been sick but are better now. They'll be eating good hay and whatever else they can find in the back yard.

I really have not missed having goats at all.

He went to the doctor today...

and he said it was not a TIA, but most likely caused by a spike in blood pressure. We had company Saturday and had pizza. He had to go get 2 of our grand daughters before we ate. When he got home, he just ate. He usually takes all his pills before eating, then a few after. Well, he didn't take any. Then remembered a few hours later, so made a PB&J sandwich and took all his pills. He thinks he did not take one of his BP meds. The doctor said that would most definitely cause a blood pressure spike and then blurry vision and confusion. SO, that is good news that it wasn't a TIA. But not good that he forgot to take his meds. He's usually pretty good about taking them. The doctor also said to take them at the same time every day too.

I've been feeding him good healthy food and his blood sugar readings have been great for him! So that's a good thing. And his foot is looking a little better every week. If we can get that healed, he can walk more which will bring that BS and BP down.

He thanks you all for your prayers and concerns. He is such a man and doesn't talk much about things he's feeling. So it's hard for him to have something like this to happen.


I found this at Whole Foods yesterday. It's turmeric root. Great for diabetics. Also a natural antibiotic. I am going to be making tea with it. I might even make a salve too.I just thought it was pretty cool. Almost forgot to add that I use this for wounds as well. On us and animals. I use the dried turmeric and 100% pure aloe, make a past with about equal parts, and slather on the wound. It heals within days.

It's cold now! All of a sudden, it feels like fall. A rather wet fall, but fall. I was freezing at market today. It was so dark and cloudy but never rained. I was so glad to get back home.

Rosemary-Mint soap.

I cut the soap today. I really had a hard time getting each slice to 4 oz. Hard for me to gauge. So I have some samples now. I really like this soap. Smells amazing and I love the color.

So I am really wanting to make some HP soap now.I found a crock pot at the thrift the other day. And I just love the rustic look and the HP soap. I may even be able to make goat milk soap this way. I just need to research the process and watch you tube videos. It'll have to wait til Thursday now. Tomorrow's market day.

There is something HUGE under my kitchen sink, rattling the bottles I store under the sink. And trying to get out! I saw some really big rodent poop.Way bigger than tiny mouse poop. More like a big gigantic rat or maybe even a possum. Huge poop. So awhile ago, when I heard it again, I got Bubba and Stella in there. Bubba just about disappeared in the cabinet trying to find what ever's in there. It was even rattling the doors. Big evil creature, in my kitchen, just a few feet away from me. I do not like this at all.

More storms. And soap. A good combo, right?

There were more storms all around last night here. Several mountain roads closed due to mud slides. A lady in Walker Co. where we live, was killed when a tree fell on her mobile home. So sad. And scary. And more heading our way. It's been like this for weeks now. Storms at night. Late. Huge loud thunder and bright lightening. It's so wet here. Just a mud pit. Wonder if it's going to be like this the rest of fall and winter.

I worked in the studio most of the day. Made a new soap with shea butter, cast, coconut and mostly olive oil. With rosemary and peppermint EO's. I also used dried powdered parsley flakes for color. It's still a bit soft so will wait some more to cut it. And I have no idea how to cut this one. This is the mold, which is a glass loaf pan, that I made the lavender-oat soap but wasn't this tall.  This is taller than the mold. They will be thinner bars but 4 oz. each. It really smells good.

Also worked on more dryer balls. And made a few more smaller orange felted pumpkins. And have been working on a goat for a week now. Goats are really hard. This one's a Nubian. Got her all done, with an udder, but every time I look at her, I have to work on her some more. IF I get her to where I like her, she's going to be $50 at least. Lots of hours so far. So I may just stick with cute fluffy sheep.

The soap in front is some I made with goldenrod tea. Had to take a pic for a soap forum because someone was thinking of doing this. I used a bar last night in the shower and really like the lather. It's a bit more squeaky than the other soaps. Don't know if it's the goldenrod or not. But I liked it. Not much scent though. Just a nice clean bar.

I might be going out today with my mom, if it's not pouring rain and windy. I need more oils for more soap! I need to make more charcoal soap. I have 2 bars left. So far, the best seller.

I could not get the husband to go anywhere yesterday. He seems fine now. Blood sugar is great. Been feeding him good healthy foods. We had the oldest and youngest grand daughters most of the weekend, so that keeps him happy. I hear him telling someone on the phone he may go see if his PC doc can see him this week. He's been going to her every other week so far til last week. She said she's see him in April if nothing happens. I guess it'll be sooner.Will let y'all know. And thanks SO much for all the prayers and good thoughts for him. He needs them for sure!

Some flowers...

   for your Monday. Hope you enjoy!