And don't forget
Mood:  chatty
Topic: Contest
The CONTEST!

SP5
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: John Fogerty "Centerfield"
Topic: Secret Pal 5
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

I prefer natural fibers, but like the fake fur yarns too. I do avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand, but mostly because I spin the majority of my own yarn.


2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I do spin. I'm crochet impaired. ;-)


3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

Not fond of cigarette smoke, but no allergies that I know of.


4. How long have you been knitting?

I learned how to knit as a small child, but never really got it right. I took lessons at Webs in 1997 and I've been knitting since.


5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Yes, but I'll have to update it.


6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

Light florals or beachy scents.


7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Oh yes! I love chocolate!


8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

My husband and I do woodworking, making Bobbin Trees and Bobbin Logs. And I raise German Angoras. :)


9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like all kinds, but am really partial to 80's and 90's music. But I also listen to Big Bands music, Philadelphia sounds of the 70's, Nat King Cole, and some classics like Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven. No MP3, but CD's are good.


10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

I like blues, pinks, yellows. I'm not fond of olive or mustard tones or muddy colors.


11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I have two small sons, and a husband, We have three cats; Smitty and Smoosh who are sisters and almost 9 years old, and Trina, who is 2 years old (she is really my oldest son's cat).


12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

I'd love to own a house by the ocean. I have a dream of having a house at the Cape Cod National Seashore, which overlooks the ocean and has a nice studio at one end. Or I'd also take a house on Nantucket or the south Jersey shore.

Other than that, my dreams are rather simple; happiness for my children, myself, husband and family.


13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

Noro, Brown Sheep Lambs Pride, and Prism yarns.


14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

With the exception of Red Heart, not much.


15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Shawls of my own design.


16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Shawls! I'm also partial to sweaters, when I can complete them.


17. What are you knitting right now?

I'm slowly working on a shawl of my own design made from 85% angora, 15% merino yarn from the yarn co-op I participated in with IAGARB. I've been so busy since April that I haven't had much time to knit. Every weekend has been full of things to do, either shows or other commitments, and after July 4th, I'll have the weekends to myself again until September. Can you tell I'm really looking forward to July 5th?


18. What do you think about ponchos?

For some people, they look great. But I'm not sure they would look good on me.


19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Circulars, definitely!


20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Wood, aluminum.


21. Are you a sock knitter?

I have knit socks, but not in a long time. I like to knit socks using yarn that allows me to use a #5 12" circular needle. I wish I could get my hands on some Lorna's Laces yarn, but no store around here carries it.


22. How did you learn to knit?

An elderly cousin of mine learned of my desire to knit, and she showed me how. But because I was a lefty knitter, she had a hard time showing me because I did everything backwards.


23. How old is your oldest UFO?

A top I started in knitting class at Webs in 1997. It will never be finished as it was a simple vest pattern taken off of the internet and I realized it wasn't much of a pattern, so I switched to something else.


24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

A rabbit of course!


25. What is your favorite holiday?

Ooooh, that is a hard one. I love July 4th, celebrating our country's independence (I'm a colonial history buff), but I also like Thanksgiving and having my family around, and Christmas because I love watching my kids and family open up their presents.


26. Is there anything that you collect?

Besides spinning wheels? (grin) I collect coffee mugs from different places that have lighthouses on them. I also collect cookbooks that specialize in regional cooking (New England or Mid Atlantic/Penn Dutch).


27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

No knitting magazine subscriptions. I only subscribe to Wild Fibers and Spin-Off.


28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?

"A Good Yarn" by Debbie Macomber, "Dance with Me" by Luanne Rice, "The Summer I Dared" by Barbara Delinsky, and "Nantucket: The Quiet Season" by Nathaniel Philbrick.

I forgot to add.....
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: James Taylor "Up On The Roof"
Topic: Contest
After June 27th, all the entries that I have recieved, I'll put up the descriptions on the blog and on the Baycolonyfarm@yahoogroups.com website. We'll do a blind vote (no names will be included in the colorways). The top vote getter will be picked that way. :)

Contest time!
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: The Beach Boys "California Girls"
Topic: Fiber
The time has come for me to make some decisions.

I need to start preparing for fall fiber fest season. In order to do that, I need to do some massive amounts of dyeing and fiber prep. This is where my readers come in. :)

I'm going to hold a contest. The winner gets a skein of this:

It is 85% German angora, 15% merino wool yarn. There are approximately 200 yards per skein. It has been washed and is ready to knit. This retails for $15 per ounce, and there are approximately 100 yards per ounce.

Or, if you'd like, I will make up a custom batt for you in your colorway if you are the winner.

The rules of the contest are (and I'm copying Cherry Tree Hill Yarns from when they did their colorway contest a few years ago):

Send me the colors you want to see in a carded batt, roving or yarn. It must contain at least 2 colors (and no more than 5 colors), and send me the name of your colorway. Include an explaination of your colorway (did you see these colors while on a vacation to the Cape, are they in your garden, etc.). Be as detailed as possible so that I can get the colors the way you see them. These must be original colorways, please! The winner of the contest will be announced in on July 1st. Your name and colorway will appear on the roving/batts ("Kathy's Romance" as an example).

Ready, set, go! :)

Rabbits for Sale
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: KC and the Sunshine Band "I'm Your Boogie Man"
Topic: Rabbits
It's time to move some of my rabbits out to new homes. I have three bunnies I'll be taking deposits on. They are from Samson's Mia, a (fabulous mom, and Samson's Gewurztraminer. They are purebred Germans with new import lines behind them. They are showing signs of good density and are very sociable!

I have a doe from Samson's Annie and Samson's Merlot (brother to Gwurtz) from a litter born here in September 2004. This doe is READY TO BREED! She has a lovely silky coat, and she is getting great growth on her coat.

I also have a pet/spinner quality angora ready to go. He is a buck directly from Leslie Samson. This guy is one of the sweetest rabbits I've ever known. And if his density was there, I'd keep him for myself. But because he doesn't fit into my breeding program, he would be a wonderful spinners rabbit for someone.

If you are interested in any of these rabbits, please let me know. I can send pictures of them, and will quote prices. Please contact me at Baycolonyfarm@aol.com for more information.

Pictures!
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Percy Faith and His Orchestra
Topic: Class information

This is a picture of some of the spinners that participated in the Alden Amos/Stephenie Gaustad class. Don't they look busy?

Thank you to Susan at the Fiber Arts Center for sending the photo! :)


And for those interested in making felted mittens, Dharia sent a picture of the mittens she purchased at MAS&W from Leslie. Aren't they beautiful? Leslie will be teaching a class on making these in September (date to be announced).

If you'd like to be notified about this class, or any other classes that we are offering, please join the Bay Colony Farm group at Yahoogroups at

alt="Click here to join BayColonyFarm">
Click to join BayColonyFarm

July 16th Fiber Event
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: America "Ventura Highway"
Topic: Class information
Our district meeting for IAGARB is coming up on July 16th. Charlene Schultz is the district director, and has planned a great day for members. The theme for the day is "Bring a Friend" and all IAGARB members are encouraged to bring someone along who is interested in German angora rabbits, but also the fiber arts.

What Charlene has planned are several things:

potluck lunch
discussion on German Angoras
"How to market your angora and rabbits"
"Fiber Blending on a drum carder"
and a day of spinning, knitting or other fiber related arts (whatever you choose to bring).

If you are interested in joining us, please let me know. The event is FREE.

On another note, Susan from the Fiber Arts Center just called and has pictures of the Alden/Stephenie class that she is sending me. I'll be uploading those shortly. Thank you Susan for sending those along. I look forward to seeing them! :)

What a weekend!!!
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: When in Rome "The Promise"
Topic: A bit of everything
No pictures, but lots to tell. :)

I didn't get to the fabric store on Saturday. After working until 4 in a large building with NO AC, and the fact that I was covered in dirt, the last place I wanted to head to was the mall. Instead, I came home and crashed.

BUT ON SUNDAY (da, da da!), it was the Alden & Stephenie class. Wow! Was that awesome! I learned that I had been underplying my yarn for years, and why it was coming out underplied. It seems that there are two stopping places; both between the time you actually put the ply into the yarn and when it winds on to the bobbin. Who knew? That was like an epiphany for me. I also learned some great techniques for spinning yarn faster. Once I get my Merlin Tree wheel set back up, I'll try those out (that wheel just BEGS for production spinning!).

For those that are interested, the following people attended: Caroline, Jenny, Judy, Cindy, Kim, Elaine with her fabulous cherry Canadian wheel that Alden built, Al, Dharia, Cate, Lisa, Rosemary, Claudia, Marcy, Charlene, Jarrett, Heidi, Kate, Shelia, Marianne, Suzanne, and Deanna. I spun in the back, so that I could run for Alden and Stephenie if they should need anything.

I have no pictures of the event. I was aware that Alden does not like pictures to be taken during the classes, so I didn't bring my camera in with me. However, there have been lots of pictures on some of the blogs listed above, and Stephenie took a great class picture which I'm anxious to see.

After class, I invited Alden, Stephenie and Marcy out to dinner. Marcy has know them for a long time, and it was fun to hear the various stories they shared with me. Dinner at Judie's in downtown Amherst was really very good. I had my first chocolate martini (which was delicious!!!), and an incredible pasta dish with scallops. Listening to Stephenie talk about their travels was very interesting. I found out that Stephenie and I share a love of old glass. We talked about the glass factory in Sandwich, MA and the Corning Glass museum in Corning, NY (which I hadn't been to, but enjoyed hearing about!).

We also talked about our love of old textiles and colonial history.

I was sorry to see that they had to leave the next day, but understood that after three days of intensive travel (NJ on Friday, Maine on Saturday and Amherst, MA on Sunday), anyone would need a break!).

I was able to put in my order for my very own Canadian Wheel from Alden. Spinning on Elaine's was a religious experience and one I'm anxious to have again. ;-)

I also wanted to thank Stephenie for her lovely gift. It is a basket made from beautifully colored string. It is very beautiful and I plan to hang it in a place of honor. I also wanted to thank Debra, aka Torchie for her thoughtful and very cool gift of a dragon orifice hook for one of my wheels. Naturally, when I get my Alden wheel (which will be a while, as these are built to fit the spinner!), my dragon will live on that wheel as they will go so well together. :)

Unfortunately, due to some problems on my computer, I'm unable to post pictures right now, but hope to have them up soon.

I did get some fabric for sewing yesterday. I picked out a really cool purple/turquoise blue batik fabric for a dress and a top, and two different blue fabrics for skirts. Once I get a few other things taken care of, I can start sewing!

Sewing? The Alden/Stephenie class and the latest update on VHD
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Creed "With Arms Wide Open"
Topic: Fiber

It seems I've been bitten again by the sewing bug. I had forgotten just how much I loved sewing when I was a teenager. I used to make almost all of my own clothes, and was very proud of my sewing skills. But I lost that love. I'm not sure if it was working on a sewing machine that clogged thread around the bobbin, or the fact that suddenly, patterns were WAY TOO BIG! And I hadn't gained or lost any weight; heck, I was a perfect size 6 then! But working on the felted coat last weekend reminded me just how much I loved the feel of fabric between my fingers, and creating something out of so little. I remembered the ease of sewing a pretty outfit. So this weekend, probably later today, I'm heading over to Joann's's Fabrics to look for skirt and dress patterns. Nothing overly complicated, as I'm still feeling my way back to sewing, but something that looks professional, yet is comfortable and cool. I'll try to do that later today, after work.

And speaking of work, I'm heading over to DH's place of employment to do some edgebanding. "Huh? What the heck is that?" you must be thinking. Well, edgebanding is what is done to melamine pieces that eventually become point-of-purchase displays. DH and I think we can get through a thousand of these pieces before too late today. The only bad thing is that there is NO air conditioning in the building, and it is blazingly hot in there. So maybe I'll do the fabric store thing after I've had a dip in the pool.

And I'm looking forward to meeting so many people at the Alden Amos class tomorrow. The Fiber Arts Center will be open at 9:30 for us to get into and class starts at 10 a.m. Please remember to bring the following items:

a functional spinning wheel, pocket calculator, skein winder (niddy or reel), extra bobbins.

And $15 cash for Alden and Stephenie at the class for the materials fee.

Now onto the more unpleasant task:

the VHD update:

As of 6-10-05, 10AM PST from Pam Alley:

Spoke with Drs. Hollis and Morley of KY today; they and their colleagues
have been doing site visits, phone calls and lots of investigation related
to the swap meet at which the Indiana owner procured his latest purchases.

The swap meet is held on Tuesdays, and is located in Greenville, KY--the
western part of the state, about 50 miles from the Indiana border.

If you know anyone who attends or visits this swap meet with rabbits or to
obtain rabbits, PLEASE contact Dr. Hollis at 503-337-9651, or email me at
RIC@... and I will pass the information on to him.

What they are seeking is news of mortality--losses of rabbits which are not
usual or routine, which might turn out to be due to RVHD. If you or anyone
you know has lost rabbits lately (last two weeks, last month or so), and the
deaths are not obviously attributable to 'normal' causes, PLEASE contact Dr.
Hollis IMMEDIATELY.

The key to discovering this disease lies in good recordkeeping of both sales
and purchases; in early detection by owners; and in good diagnostic work
done on rabbits that die.

To aid in this last, those in and near the state of Indiana may use:
Perdue
Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory
http://www.addl.purdue.edu/
West Lafayette, Indiana
Full necropsy $50 + lab tests beyond usual tests done
Out of state origin doubles the fee
Can submit and pay independent of veterinarian but require report to go
through the regular veterinarian.

I'm working on getting the information for Kentucky; please remember that
ALL states have State Veterinarians and USDA/APHIS veterinarians as
well--you can contact your Department of Agriculture and find their numbers
that way, or ask your veterinarian--they should have the contact information
you need.

by Pamela Alley, RVT
6-10-05

A Sad Thing
Mood:  rushed
Now Playing: Bananrama "Cruel Summer"
Topic: Rabbits
Unfortunately, this is true. There is a case of RHD in the U.S. in Indiana. There is no need to panic, but rather educate yourselves about this disease if you have rabbits. Keeping a closed barn is a very good idea right now, and not bringing rabbits in and out is very important as the incubation period can be rather long. This means not taking rabbits out to demos, and doing what you can to keep your rabbitry biosecure.

I keep a closed barn. But for now, there will be no new rabbits introduced to the herd.

If you would like to learn more about VHD/RHD, please join Pam Alley's group on Yahoogroups called VHDInfo. The list goes back to 2001, when I originally joined and have been a member of it since (under another e-mail address other than BCF). Please read the achieves, and educate yourselves about this disease. There is no cure and the vaccine is not allowed in the U.S. at this time.

Be smart, practice good hygiene around your rabbits, especially if you are between 4 and 6 hours away from the areas where the disease has been found. Allow no new people to enter your rabbitry and READ WHAT YOU CAN ABOUT THIS DISEASE. Join the VHDInfo list. Check out various government websites. Learn what you can from KNOWLEDGEABLE people (and I'm not pretending to be all knowing on this topic, but I have read quite a bit about VHD/RHD. Instead of me telling you what I know, I prefer for you to learn about it for yourself). You can visit the IN BOAH site and click on press releases for more information. Currently, they have not released any information on that site, but have promised to do so when they have some new information.
Here is the APHIS site which explains a bit about the disease.


----- Original Message -----
From:
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 2:51 PM
Subject: Emergency Management Notice : Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (Viral
Hemorrhagic Disease of Rabbits ) in Vanderburgh county, Indiana


On June 7, 2005, Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (RHD) was confirmed at a private residence in Vanderburgh county, Indiana by the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) on Plum Island, NY. Specimens from these rabbits were positive for RHD antigen on ELISA, electron microscopy, and PCR.
>
A FAD investigation was initiated on June 3, 2005 on a premises that raises rabbits primarily for sale to reptile owners as a food source for snakes. The investigation revealed that many of the 200 rabbits on the premises suddenly died during the past 10 days. Less than a dozen rabbits had recently been purchased from Kentucky and introduced into the herd. An epidemiologic investigation has begun in Kentucky. The remaining rabbits are quarantined and will be euthanized and disposed of in accordance to State regulations. Cleaning and disinfection of the area will follow. The Indiana epidemiological investigation is ongoing.
>
APHIS, Veterinary Services (VS), the Indiana Board of Animal Health, and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture are working together to address this situation. VS will assist the affected State in the euthanasia, cleaning, and disinfection of the premises.
>
VS will continue to investigate reports of suspect RHD as part of its foreign animal disease surveillance program and will continue to diagnose suspect cases at FADDL. The last known positive RHD case in the US occurred in a captive exotic animal facility in Flushing, New York in December 2001.
>
APHIS, Veterinary Services (VS), the Indiana Board of Animal Health are working together to address this situation. VS will assist the affected State in the euthanasia, cleaning and disinfecting of the premises.
>
VS will also investigate reports of suspect RHD as part of its foreign animal disease surveillance program and will continue to diagnose suspect cases at FADDL.
>
Please forward this information to other Federal, State, and industry counterparts as necessary.
>
> -----definitions---------
> Emergency Management Issue is for information with no impact on APHIS Emergency Management Notice is an ongoing incident with potential impact on APHIS Emergency Management Warning is an ongoing incident with almost certain impact on APHIS
>

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 12:22 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, June 9, 2005 11:20 PM EDT

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