July

July...was brutal.  So incredibly hot and humid.  Demoralizing.  I did manage to spend about 36 hours up north for a wedding...and that made it almost worse.  Worse in a  "need to buy a lottery ticket" way.  And yet, watching these photo flash by, there was a little good mixed in...but I can say it was better watching it than living it.  

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Garden Visitor

While I'm partial to butterflies of all sorts and sizes, I have a special fondness for hummingbird moths.  I heard the distinctive buzzing as I walked around the back of the Wool House dye garden and was able to locate this snowberry clearwing moth working on some zinnias.  

Bees, butterflies and actual hummingbirds love zinnias.  I do too :-).

 

Hey, Pinot

 It looks like you've been exploring in the barn again!

"Yeah, maybe.  How'd you know?"

It's not a puzzle.  Look at your messy face!

This picture does make a fun puzzle though.  Enjoy!

Pinot loves his outdoor run around time and is currently obsessed with exploring the barn.  He still briefly checks in with some of his garden haunts, but I think he likes visiting the sheep and he loves to climb on the lower hay bales.

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Let Me Know

"Did this picture make you yawn?"

"Me too."

This made a fun puzzle.  Enjoy!

Us Sheeps [Updated Yarn Crawl Hours]

Other than two fairly recent dreams that finally involved sheep, the only animals I've ever dreamed about that I can remember have been bears.  So, up until the last few months, I sort of assumed my "spirit animal" was actually a bear.

My spirit animal is surely a sheep.  I like I'd like to lay around and take naps, hang out with my friends, listen to stories, go out to graze, visit the farm ponds, eat cookies, cuddle up with a sheep friend in the winter, wear wool sweaters...

Us sheeps ain't lovin' this summer.

Yeah...

Interestingly, most of these pictures could do with some cropping, but every time I tried they immediately felt too close and too hot.  Sort of like when Archie tries to lay on your lap when it's 94 degrees.  Every day.  For the entire month of July.

* * * * *

I doubt anyone was actually planning on hitting the Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl Trail to come out to the farm this Wednesday evening (Heck, even I don't want to visit the farm when it's this hot :-o), but if you dare, we'll all be here sitting in front of our fans.  

It looks like Thursday might be a little better though, so I'm adding in that evening as well.  

It might be better.  

It might not.  

I have a bunch of really yummy leftover icing.  

Maybe I'll make a small cake.

I'll try to keep Archie away from you.

Fiber Crawl Updated Hours

Wednesday and Thursday 4:00 to 7:00

Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 4:00

Zen And The Art Of Spinning Wheel Maintenance

The first thing I tell someone who's having trouble with their spinning wheel or weaving loom is that while these tools are definitely specialized, they are at heart, basic tools, and when they aren't functioning well, probably just need something adjusted or simply fixed...

...and then I spend Two Weeks of the Tour de Fleece fighting with my own wheel, not having the most fun, whining about the trouble I'm having, stressing that I need to start saving for a new wheel...

Luckily our small, but mighty Ravelry group is full of experienced and helpful spinners...who still had to suggest to me twice that maybe my drive band was just slipping, and sure enough, five minutes later I am back to spinning with a well working wheel.  

Do as I say, not as I do.  

Sigh...

This is an odd picture, but I was working with blazing too hot, too bright sun and this spot in the shade worked perfectly for a yarn shot.  Neither the wheel or Bea are in prison.  They are both just trying to stay cool.  The fence is for Pinot...who is enjoying the AC in the wash room.

Love this light silver and it's so soft, lightly spun and fluffy - Sara yarn - and I think I might just go ahead and spin the rest of what I have left of his roving and make a souvenir from one of the sweetest sheep ever.

This is what a touch of Cotswold will do for your yarn.  Drape a shawl would die for :-).

This picture just struck me funny.  Do you see two eyes, a silver wig and my poor downtrodden wheel sticking her tongue out at me?

I probably need to go sit in the AC with Pinot ;-).

The 2025 Bluegrass Yarn And Fiber Crawl

It's time for the Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl and the farm and Wool House will be open for the following dates and times and can also be "open" at other times, but please email to make an appointment.  If you show up without checking first, you'll probably just get put to work ;-).

 

Saturday and Sunday July 26th and 27th from 11:-00 to 4:00

Wednesday July 30th from 4:00 - 7:00

Saturday and Sunday August 2nd and 3rd from 11:-00 to 4:00

So what can you do if you come out to the farm?  

Obviously bring cookies or crackers to treat the sheep and meet the flock :-D.

Bring your spinning wheel or current project and find a shady spot to sit and visit...or not visit if you'd prefer to just relax and not be social.  We understand.

Bring a picnic lunch or a bottle of wine and snacks and enjoy relaxing on the farm.

Wear work clothes and clean stalls or run the weed eater.  Just kidding...sort of... ;-).

Do a little shopping.  We have raw and washed fleeces, roving, batts, yarn, spindle kits, gift items...

Take a free spinning lesson - bring your own wheel or borrow one of mine. I can also help with basic knitting questions or problems...or teach you some new ones ;-).  I'm also happy to talk about how to process wool or take care of sheep.  What would you like to learn?

Get your passport stamped and try to win some prizes from the Kentucky Fiber Trail! 

There will should be cake on both Sunday afternoons.  Wednesday evening...I might make some fresh sourdough bread and have a bowl of bruschetta topping.

 

If you need directions or have any questions, just shoot me an email!

Pedaling and Treadling Along

My Tour has not been amazing this year, but some spinning is better than no spinning so I'm pedaling on and enjoying what I'm doing.  If you are discouraged by your progress, keep going.  The back of the pack is not the worst place to be ;-). 

I wanted something fun and easy to work on yesterday so I headed up to the fleece loft and pulled down an old favorite, Hershey.  As I looked back through the archives this morning to find my favorite picture of him, I see that he's a frequent choice for a fun spin during the Tour.  It's good to have friends who are comfortable to hang out with.

I posted a cell phone picture on the Ravelry group last night and had a comment about how white he'd gotten so I pulled out the big camera to capture the tiniest bit of gray still shining through.  I think the yarn, with the fibers twisted to compress the colors, will look at least a little gray...

...but nothing like his original lamb fleece...which was definitely a Hershey chocolate :-).  What a grand old sheep.

I mostly love scrolling back through decades of old blog posts, but in doing so I always know I'll shed some tears so some days I just can't.  Today was no exception, but I also came across this picture, which is one of my favorites.

This was the day Hershey and friends arrived from New York back in 2013 and that's my friend Julie waving from the road.  So glad to have these old pictures.

June Was A Pretty Good Month

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Short Round

I knew as the Tour de Fleece started that rather than one big spinning challenge I was once again going to do a "tour" of some of my favorite sheep.  I started with Short Round because I also knew that she and I were soon facing a really hard call and I knew I'd have more fun spinning while she was still sitting by my side.

She's buried out next to Jared who I believe was her very best friend in the whole world.  Or maybe her last very best friend.  Maybe she had other special friends earlier in her life before she moved here.  I hope I get to find out some day. 

She was a funny old ewe.  It was an honor.

Short Round

April 2011 - July 11, 2025  

A Morning Tour

Cat shenanigans, rabbit runs, lots of flowers and a good cup of coffee.  Good morning!

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Looking For The Morning Light

It took Six Weeks (!), but finally everyone seems to be friends.  

A new puzzle.

Milkweed, Not Just For Butterflies

If you ever get the chance to stand in a patch of blooming milkweed, do it!  When it's really blooming, I can smell it from all the way across the yard as I walk up the driveway.

Here's a new puzzle for you if you are looking for a cool "inside job".

The 2025 Tour de Fleece

Against my better judgement, I'm putting Murphy in as our Team Leader this year.  What could go wrong...

Hopefully he'll just lead us to good grazing and some grand fiber adventures...but he could also lead us into trouble, so everyone should be prepared.  I have a small stash of bail money.  20 knows where to find it.

The Tour de France and Tour de Fleece start Saturday, July 5 and run through July 27.  The women's race starts July 26 and finishes August 3. This is primarily a spinning challenge, but any fiber work counts on our team.  You can officially join our team on Ravelry or just spin along on your own.  Feel free to tag me on IG if you'd like to share your progress.

I think I'm going to once again do a sampler of some of my favorite sheep, but this year I'll also be including some processing as well.  I have several fleeces already washed and ready to card or comb, but I'll be washing a few more and hopefully I'll take some pictures of the entire process from sheep to spinning.  

Air up your bike tires and get ready to ride :-D.

Pinot's Porch

So glad it's at least a little cooler this morning.  I've regretted every complaint I made about being cold last winter.

Looking for a new puzzle?  I think this one might be fun :-).

I Mean, What Else Would You Do When It's Nine Million Degrees?

I don't remember why I started flipping through my natural dye books looking for a green, but I did and came across comfrey.  I'd been given a start of comfrey this spring to add to the B Garden and was pleasantly surprised to see it is also a dye plant.

I messaged my flower giving friend (who's also into natural dyes) and she said she had a big patch ready to be cut back so we decided to put a dye pot together.  Another natural dye friend was coming into town so it was perfect timing...and then the August heat dome arrived.  We had fun and learned a lot, but it would have been more fun if it had been a more reasonable temperature.  

 

Did you know that the screen drying rack flips up to access a perfect work table underneath?  I love this set up.  

The freshly started comfrey in the B Garden.  See the bee?  Mine was still blooming because it was a bit behind Rebecca's due to the transplant.  

It's a beautiful addition to the garden!

After a brief soak.

And a little bit longer.

The gray on the left and the white on the right were where we started.  The gray became pretty army green and the white, with just an alum mordent, became the light yellow green.  I wasn't super excited, but was instructed to reserve judgment until we had added in the iron modifier.

And that's when we got the two greens on the left :-D.  So those two skeins were mordented with alum, simmered in the comfrey dye pot and then dipped in an iron modifier bath afterwards.  Much better!

Another plant that could give us a dark green was ivy and I thought I had a source for that, but when we prepped it, we didn't get any color so I must not have the right variety.  We'd already mordented a couple more skeins so we looked through the book for other plants we could find and set up quickly and chose goldenrod.  

It's too early for blooms, but the leaves work well too, so I headed down to the creek in the blazing sun and picked a pot full.  The leaves started green and cooked to a greenish yellow color and when I dipped out a cup of dye to see where we were, it was barely colored.  I thought it was another fail, but was cautioned once again to give it a try.  

 

See the bright yellow strand on the end?  That was our test strand. The book cautioned that cooking too long might dull the color...and that's what happened with the skein.  The dark yellow had been in the dye pot for about 5-8 minutes.  The skein, closer to 15 minutes.  Yep, it faded it right out.  A good lesson. 

The other good lesson learned was to mark your skeins better.  I no longer remember if the middle skein was with the copper modifier added in or the iron.  At one point we lined the skeins up in alphabetical order (alum, copper, iron), but I don't remember if we did that before or after I took this picture.  It was hot.  

Overall it was a fun experience.  I got a green that I think will work well with my walnut dyed yarn from last fall.  And now, looking back for the link to that post I see it was the fall of 2023.  At least the blog remembers to put the "tags" on.  

If I want to wear that sweater this fall I better get knitting!

A Hundred Guests In The Wool House

 Those pesky summer visitors ;-).

This is a harmless wolf spider...and about 100 or so of her kids on her back.  Click to biggify.  

All spinners and weavers are welcome in the Wool House.  Spiders are beneficial insects.  Don't grab a phone book!

Nobody Died

 Or why you might not want to eat one of my cakes ;-).

I'd watched enough Bake Off to learn that store bought jam is too sweet for cake filling so I decided to buy fresh raspberries and cook my own.  After it's finished on the stove, you need to push it through a fine sieve to remove all the seeds.  This was harder than it looked on tv.

I had a small strainer I'd planned to use, but quickly realized I needed a larger one.  Well, that's not a problem.  I have one up at the barn.  I use them to scoop hay and other detritus from the water tanks.  A thorough washing with soap and hot water and it was sparkling clean.

After working all the seeds out of the raspberries, I had just as much trouble washing the seeds from the strainer.  I washed and scrubbed and finally took the spray nozzle to it...and a bunch of hay (and possibly other detritus) flushed out from under the shiny clean rim (!).

There was no way I was going to waste re-make the fresh raspberries.  It had boiled on the stove.  Surely there's a five minute rule if boiling is involved.  I kept my mouth shut...and no one died.

I have since bought a set of dedicated kitchen strainers ;-).

About All The Cakes

Back in the winter when life really got extra mean and depressing, several friends told me "You need to watch you some Great British Bake Off!"

I don't like to cook and I'm not really a baking person.  I don't watch much tv and definitely not reality tv.  Why would I want to waste time watching a reality tv show about baking?

"Just try it."

So Tim and I sat down one night to watch one episode to shut everyone up...and now have binge watched 11 seasons.  If you're having a bad day...go watch you some British Bake Off :-).

Cakes are not my favorite dessert.  I like them (if they are good), but I don't love them.  I only marginally like frosting (if it's good).  I would probably never order a piece of cake at a restaurant.  

Cakes started showing up on my IG feed.  Usually when something shows up that I'm not interested in, I flag it as such and "like" some new sheep or fiber account and my feed stays fun and focused.  One day I saw a picture of a beautiful robin egg Easter cake...and I clicked on it.

Hmmm, that's really pretty...

At this point we'd watched maybe two seasons of GBBO and I'd so thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone bake cakes together, helping each other, cheering each other on, being nice and learning new techniques (sort of like fiber arts, eh?) that I sent the post to Auntie Reg and told her I wanted to try to make that cake.  

It looked a little like this cake.  Or I should say this cake looked a little like that cake.  It was nerve wracking to say the least, but with Reg's help, the cake was edible and the icing...mostly stayed on the cake.  It wasn't super fun, but I knew/hoped I could learn to do better, so the following week I tried another cake.

This was a lemon cake with lemon curd inside and on top and the flowers really made it pretty.

Rhubarb upside down cake...from our garden!

A flourless chocolate roulade, straight from one of Mary Berry's books :-).

This Surprise Lemon Pudding was too and I would definitely make this again now that I know I need to weigh my eggs.  I learned that from The Cake Bible.  Yes, I bought that.  Now, if my baking doesn't kill you, I can always bean you with a nearly 700 page book ;-D.

Chocolate inside and outside and even on top.  I'd like to re-make this cake just to do it better, but like seldom knitting a pattern more than once, I'll probably not repeat it just out of spite.  There's not a shortage of chocolate cake recipes out there.

I was pretty happy with this one.  Still not getting where I want icing-wise, but getting better.

I highly recommend placing some mint leaves on top of lemon cream cheese frosting.  It infuses (?) into the frosting where it touches and it gives it a fabulous minty flavor.  

Angle food cake with the whites and lemon curd with the yolks.  Raspberry frosting...that I should have made a note about because I don't remember which recipe I used, but I think it was a whipped cream frosting, not butter cream.

That was the best lemon curd I've even tasted - from The Cake Bible. 

Lavender blackberry cake with ermine frosting.  I didn't harvest our lavender to make this, but I did want a picture with it while the bees and butterflies worked away.

This was the first cake I wasn't just thoroughly panicked making.  There was lavender infused milk in the recipe and lavender syrup brushed on each layer before frosting.  I wasn't sure how much I could add to the layers so I erred on the side of caution.  It could probably have used a little more to increase the lavender flavor, but it was still really good.  

The reason I wasn't sure how much to add is because I got smart and put the third layer of the cake in the freezer so I was working a bit off recipe.  Now if I don't feel like baking a new cake some week I can pull it out and make a trifle and tick that check box ;-).

So now that I'm pretty into trying to learn how to make cakes, I've decided it can be my summer "thing".  I'm calling it Scratch Cake Summer.

Anyone have a good cake to recommend?