Fun with Fulling
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Meowing kitty (Trina)
As a way to get myself motivated to clean yesterday, I cast on for the fulled case I purchased at the Wool Connection. I knit about an inch on it, and promised myself that when I got several things in this household really cleaned, I would pick it back up, and knit until I was finished. I found this to be a great motivator for me. By mid-afternoon, I was feeling pretty good about having a clean kitchen, cleaned bathroom, and some laundry done. After we took a trip down to Woodcraft, where my husband bought several items for work, and I drooled over the pattern books for indoor and outdoor furniture, we came home, and I set about knitting. I had no idea that glitzy knitting would be so much fun! And because this case is so small, I was finished in a couple of hours (including untangling the small bit of yarn from hell, which was one of the accent yarns). The kit contained a skein of Nuro yarn, and three accent yarns; one flashy fluff, a bright orange fluff and a slubbed carry along yarn (aka "the yarn from hell"). While knitting, I decided to change my bag a bit; instead of putting in a zipper, I wanted a flap to go over the front. So I knit that in instead, and I'm quite pleased. Here is a picture of the bag pre-fulling with the flap up:

I will post a picture of the bag when it has finished drying.

Another rainy day
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Enya "Shepherd Moons"
More rain. We are now on day 3 of rain, and the CT River supposedly has reached flood level. I hope my friend Suzanne and her family are all right. They adopted Moshi Moshi from here at BCF, and they live right next to the Oxbow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for them that they don't have much water damage, if any and that they are safe.

On Wednesday evening, BCF's Ripley, a crossbred German doe, was exhibiting signs of nest building. So I put a nestbox in her cage, and by yesterday morning, she had built a lovely nest. That poor girl probably pulled a few ounces of wool from herself, but when she gives birth, those babies will be nice and warm. For a first time expectant Mom at the age of 2, she's holding her own. Her belly feels large, and very full. She was bred to Samson's Twist, my new full import buck. These babies will be 96.5% German. Ripley is a lovely shade of sable (think coffee with a touch of cream). I can't wait to see what her babies are.

Last night was the second meeting of the Pioneer Valley Knitters over at Barnes and Noble in Hadley. A big "Thank you!" to Jen for starting this group. And another big thank you to Deanna, who insisted on calling me at 7:45 p.m. to ask me to come over. As we were just finishing dinner, my thoughts were going along the line of "I'm too tired to go out and knit tonight", but Deanna's call made me realize that I needed to go out. So I packed up my cable swatch from Sunday, and headed on out. When I finally got there, I found a wonderful group of women, sharing the art of knitting and talking like old friends. Jen and I discussed easy knitting; and how that is about the only thing one can get done with a small child(ren) around. Marcy was working on an intricate Alice Starmore sweater. She kept saying "But it's only knits and purls!". She makes it look easy. Yeah, right; at 7.5 stitches to the inch. ;-)

Yesterday I also received my brochure from Melissa Leapman. I plan to spend a good portion of this weekend deciding which classes to host here next year (2005). Since I already have Beth Brown-Reinsel tentatively scheduled in April of 2005, I'll figure out when it works to bring Melissa up here too.

Cold and Rainy
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm, Smooth Jazz
No one ever said weather in New England was nice and easy.

We are back into late winter. Today it is cold and rainy. Yesterday, it was cold, breezy and very damp; I even saw a snow flake or two (Back! Back! I say!).

However, the baby bunnies are handling it quite well, even if they did give me a huge scare this morning. When I went out to the barn, I could only see one baby hanging out with Mama. Where were the other three? After a lot of searching through hay, I found that they had completely covered themselves with hay in the nest box (where they hadn't been since Monday!), and were toasty warm in there. I popped baby #4 back into there, where he/she quickly hopped to where it's siblings were, and snuggled down with them. I think it took about a 1/2 hour before my heart stopped thudding around in my chest though. :)

I'm also on the half-way mark with my class. Tonight marks class #4, and I'm so very glad. On school nights, I get less than 6 hours of sleep. Being seriously sleep deprived does not have any positive effects, but I'm keeping it together, and plan to sleep in on Saturday or Sunday if at all possible.

Do you ever get to the point where all you want to do is knit or spin? Well, I'm at that point. And I'm just too darn tired to even consider it. Hopefully I'll be able to do some tomorrow, when I don't have to worry about class.

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 4:12 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 31 March 2004 4:13 PM EST

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Whew! What a week!
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm Smooth Jazz
This is what greated me this morning when I went out to the barn at 6 a.m.



All four baby bunnies were out of the nest for the first time ever.

After keeping the babies inside, here in my office for 5 days, I decided on Friday that it was time to move them back outside with Mamma. Annie wasn't quite sure what to think about having that big old nestbox back inside her cage, but she stepped up to the plate and has done her job well. She isn't at all sure what to think about these babies hopping all over the place, trying to nurse when ever THEY feel the need , but she's keeping them in line and gently nosing them back to their little hay nest in the corner when they try to hop all over her.

Last Monday night I started a night class at a not so local college, 25 miles away. The class meets for 3 weeks, two nights a week. For an early morning person like myself, this is torture. However, it would be even worse if I had to take the same class, and drive out to the Boston area for 3 days, so I'll go with sleep deprivation, and convenience. The class has been really interesting so far, and the instructor is funny. He has lots of experience in our field, and many amusing stories to tell. Best of all, the group sponsoring the classes wants to hold more classes in our area, and since this college is less than ideal (they can't even get an overhead projector to the classroom so that we can view all the slides that go with the text), I have offered my services of setting up more classes in other places that will offer better location, times and amenities to the students. I LOVE doing things like this. I used to do it when I was an executive secretary for another organization similar to this one, and it is great fun. A lot of work, but a lot of fun.

Yesterday (Sunday) was spent down at the Wool Connection in Avon, CT. I took a class with Melissa Leapman called "Untangling Cables". You may remember that I had signed up to take a whole weekend of classes, but due to us having to move Calvin's birthday party to Saturday afternoon to accomodate several of my family members, I wasn't able to go down on Saturday. But yesterday more than made up for that. Our class was small; 3 students and Melissa. We were missing one other student, but we got lots of personalize attention, and it was so worth the trip down! Here is a picture of the swatch we made in class yesterday (and incase you can't tell what it is, the top part of the swatch is an anchor that is 3/4 finished).

And this is what I bought:




Actually, there is more to come as I also purchased Melissa's book "Hot Knits" which comes out in May. That will be mailed to me from the Wool Connection when it is released and in stock.

Melissa is a delightful teacher, who has written some wonderful books. It doesn't hurt that she is a Mount Holyoke grad, so we sit and chat about the area, and how much things have changed. She is also convinced that once her book "Cool Crochet" is released, that I won't be crochet impaired anymore either. She said that if her husband could learn how to crochet using her instructions in the book, then anyone could learn. We'll see. She doesn't know just how crochet impaired I really am. ;-)

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 11:18 AM EST

Updated: Monday, 29 March 2004 11:29 AM EST

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New visitors in the house
Now Playing: the sound of rustling hay
Rustling hay you say? What in the world is Helen talking about?

I now have four 10 day old baby bunnies residing next to my desk in my office.

Friday night turned so cold, that we lost 3 out of Annie's litter. In order to avoid any more losses, I have moved Annie's nestbox into my office, for another couple of weeks, until the babies are hoping about, and have enough fur on them to live out in the cage with Annie.

Every morning around 6 a.m., I take the nestbox out to the barn, and Annie immediately jumps in and nurses the bunnies. She has taken quite well to this new arrangement, and I know that I won't loose any bunnies to the cold (last night's low was 19 degrees).

The plus side to this is that I get to watch these amazing little creatures grow. I talk to them often, and hold them a lot too. This conditions them to easy handling, and they will be very gentle as adults.

The last time I had baby bunnies in my office was 2 years ago with Buttercream and Julia's litters. They all grew up well socialized to people, and are very gentle and friendly. Annie's litter will be too.

Bleary Eyed
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
Yes, I'm o.k, but extremely tired. I was up most of the night on Thursday night/Friday morning with Nate due to a stomach bug. Then last night, I did myself the disservice of eatting Mud Pie ice cream, which did my stomach in. I fell asleep at 4 a.m., only to be up at 6 this morning when my husband got up to go to work. Yep, I'm tired. I have an inspection at 10 this morning, then I'm coming home and doing NOTHING (i.e. NO cleaning) for the rest of the day.

Carolyn asked where Wooly Knob Fiber Mill was located. They are out in Indiana, and did a fabulous job with my rovings. I have LOTS of fleeces out in the barn that I'm sending them. I just have to get them together and ship them. I have spent some time this week washing up a white Icelandic fleece that I got from Harry and Jimmie at True North Farm last year. I plan to dye it Cherry Red, and process it with some cherry red angora that will be dyed too. Jimmie just loves this combination, and I want to give him the bulk of what I get back.

I was very excited yesterday to get a copy of the MA Sheep and Wool brochure in the mail. My ad for Bay Colony Farm was in there as a half page ad. O.k, I know this sounds strange, but I've worked really hard for the past few years building up my business, and I finally feel like we are worthy of that ad now. Plus, I will be doing two workshops at the wool fair; the first one on Saturday morning on Care and Grooming of an Angora Rabbit and the second one on Sunday morning of Spinning Angora and Angora Blends. Go to MA Sheep and Wool for more information.

Planning for the Future
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Elton John "Little Jeannie"
Winter's are the slow time on any farm. You wait for the ground to thaw so that you can start planting vegetable gardens and fruit trees. You wait for the air to become warm, and smell of that sweet scent that only warming earth, growing grass, and blossoming flowers can bring.

Here at Bay Colony Farm, it is no different. We've had snow 4 days in a row this week. The most we had on any given day was 3 inches; certainly nothing to worry about, but I do wish that it would warm up so that I don't have to worry so much about Annie's litter. She has done a fabulous job of mothering. But we did loose one of her babies last night. It was the smallest of the litter, and I don't think it was feeding properly. Nature has a way of taking care of things, and the rest of the babies are growing big and strong, now covered with a fine fuzz of white fur. Within a week, their eyes will be open, and they will look more like bunnies than baby pigs, as my oldest son believes. :)

Of course, with all this down time, it has given me a lot of time to plan classes for next year, 2005. So far, I have had contact with one knitting instructor, and am waiting for my confirmation of dates, and the contract. I'm still trying to decide who else to bring in to teach. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to bring them to me.

We've also had to cancel the bus trip we had planned down to MD. We had less than 1/4 of the bus full, and the touring company was expecting their $1200 check within 3 weeks. I'm not too worried since I found out that the spinning guild is setting up a 2 day bus trip down and back. I might sign up for that instead.

Here is a picture of Annie's babies, taken yesterday. You can see the difference in size already.

Good days
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
Some days are just great days.

Friday and yesterday were two of those days.

Friday's mail brought a wonderful surprise; the box of roving from Wooly Knob Fiber Mill. Matt and Jamie out did themselves with several fleeces. The two I was most concerned about were ones that I'm keeping for my private stash; Halcyon's fleece from WFB, and the prize winning black Border Leicester fleece I purchase at the Big E fleece sale. For those that don't know, the black BL fleece was just lovely in the bag. And then I did the unthinkable. I accidentally let it agitate in the washing machine, because I got distracted by something and didn't give fleece washing my full attention. By the time I realized what that sound in the background was, I was heart sick. My lovely black fleece was now a giant matted cat bed. I took it out, and let it dry anyway. I figured I would send it out, and see if it could be salvaged, but sent a note to Matt and Jamie saying "Do what you can; if you can't do anything, toss it". Some difficult words to write. The other fleece, Halcyon's, has been sitting in my office since last April. A lovely fine corriedale fleece in varying shades of pale and medium grey, with some fine black streaks in it.
What came back in that giant box had me overjoyed. Matt put a funny little note in with the black BL fleece; the words "silk purse" were written on that note. He truly did turn a sows's ear into a silk purse. And Halcyon's fleece is stunning. So incredibly soft that I sat down at my Joy wheel and started spinning for the first time in months. Even spun as thin singles, the singles are deliciously soft.
The other roving's are lovely too, and they will be put up on the web page later today. If I don't sell out of them, I will be bringing them to MA Sheep and Wool in May.

My other wonderful surprise on Friday was that Annie gave birth to 8 healthy kits sometime shortly before 4 p.m. When I went out to feed everyone, I found her looking rather smug, cleaning herself up, and 8 very active little bunnies in the nest. Annie so far is doing a fabulous job of mothering, and is enjoying the treats of banana and broccoli that I'm giving her.

Saturday was equally fun, but in the different way. Calvin and I were invited to my niece's birthday party at a skating rink. I haven't been on skates in over 20 years, but it came back easily. I had so much fun skating around that rink, listening to current pop tunes playing and some old ones too, ones that I used to skate to when I was 11, when I learned how to skate. I did manage to get Calvin around the rink a few times, before he was too tired to continue, so while the kids were playing games, I skated. What freedom is it to fly around, feel the muscles loosen, and remember how much fun I used to have when I went skating with my friends and cousins.
I'm not even sore today! So I've made the decision to try to get back to the rink several times a month; teach Calvin and Nate how to skate, and maybe even go on a few dates there with my husband, when they have retro night, and play music from the 70's and 80's, when we were teens. :)

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 2:20 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 14 March 2004 2:48 PM EST

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The Waiting Game
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: "Your Touch" by Seal on WEIB 106.3 fm
When you have any animal bred, it is always a waiting game, and the same goes with rabbits. While Annie has built a beautiful nest, and is enjoying pats on the head, she has me playing the waiting game. When it is still cold outside, it is always a good idea to check on the expectant mother often to see if she has delivered her babies. Sometimes, new moms (and even seasoned ones), don't deliver in the nest so sometimes it is possible to save the babies if you get out there in time. Annie is eating less, and I'm taking that as a good sign. Her official due date is the 12th, but rabbits can deliver at 26 days, or wait as late as 38 days (this happened to another mini-lop doe I had). So for now, we play the waiting game.

Not much knitting going on, because my sleep schedule is slightly messed up again, and I'm too tired at 8 p.m. at night to pick up the needles. However, I have almost the whole day ahead of me to do what ever I want (with the exception of a lot of laundry that needs washing), so maybe I'll get my first sock done.

What the???
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: WEIB fm
Tripod must have a serious gremlin working at it, because last night, when I uploaded the new photos to the blog, they were in the correct order. I had a picture of my sheep sign and a sock I was knitting on Saturday's blog entry. Then I put 1 picture of my boys sitting at their new table on the entry from last night. It looked fine when I signed off.
Then this morning, I go into my blog, to find the pictures completely rearranged. I spent 2 hours this morning trying to get it straightened out. It appeared to be fixed finally (I even checked my blog from another computer), only to log onto it tonight, and find that the picture I had up of my boys has suddenly morphed into the sheep sign. What the?????

I'm not fixing it again. It took too much damn time this morning to get it done, so I won't even try again.