We’re off to the fiber festival in Bethal Missouri today.  If you wonder where that is, it’s well as far away from us and still be in Missouri as possible.

Hopefully, we will sell lots of stuff and come back with much less stuff.

The hot item for us is usually our spindle kits.  You get a spindle, one ounce of fiber and a free lesson for $5.  So I’m usually spindling all day long, it’s so much fun.

Wish us luck!

I have begun a new project for the site.  I don’t want to give it all away, but you can see the yarn I have prepared and dyed for the next project.

This is Fino lace weight yarn. 70% alpaca and 30% silk.  I hand dyed it these colors, to match each other.  I love the colors and the yarn too!  It is a slightly heavy lace weight, somewhere right around 18 wpi.  I find these the easiest to work with, but they can be difficult to find.  So I am beginning swatches for the next lace project.

On other news, I have cleaned out my “craft” space and turned it into a full blown studio area for my fiber stuff which is quickly overunning the whole house.  Next issue will feature an article on maximizing your space and smart storage solutions.

I have taken better pictures for the shopping cart.  Apparently I tripped at the finish line.  So I have listened to all the advice and suggestions, and hopefully things will be selling a little now that I have done a better job.  One concern that was raised was that the pictures weren’t very good.  I was trying to just show the roving color as best I can, but it lacked appeal.  So I have snapped some hand painted to see if the interest will be higher there.

I am also looking to speak to people in the area about ordering koolaid.  Should be fun.   I am also looking and building a solar oven for dyeing outside heh heh.  I’m glad my hubby is in on this or he would be going insane by now.

I have a lot of pressure to get each issue published, and now, it’s crunch time again. So I have next week to get the feature articles nailed down and finished up. Not to big of a deal, but I don’t deal with stress well. I’m working on doing better. Issue 2 was better than issue 1 so perhaps this one will go even easier.

A little juicy sneak peek for my readers. I am doing two articles on a new fiber, and I’m betting at least 95% or more of you haven’t tried it. I’m really excited about this one, it is really a great story. I will probably be doing something about drum carders, as I will be purchasing one shortly. Also looking at some patterns that have been submitted, and some articles focusing on history of spinning and fiber arts. As we progress, we learn what people really like, and what they aren’t so interested in.  Let us know, if you have something you’de like to see, or don’t like.

It seems that people really like the projects, and also the fiber spotlight, because they like to learn about the animals. So we may introduce something about the actual animal, and then a separate article about the fiber. Talking about the breed or species of animal is enjoyable, and has proved to be of great interest, but for clarity the articles would get a little long, so perhaps we will be breaking that into two articles this issue. That way we can still discuss all the aspects of the fiber in Fiber Spotlight, and then discuss the animal in some new article. That would give me the space to post more pictures, and information about the animal and it’s habits. I learned this with the Alpacas, because really they are extraordinary animals. They have a rich and interesting history, and also are a very unique animal in their breeding and birthing process. So this would allow me to discuss more of these aspects of the animal in question at greater lengths without having a behemoth article that took several visits to read.

We are also working on some other exciting things that should prove to be interesting and good for the readers. One thing we want to look into are permanent ads, because the Google ads are really not working out for us. We aren’t making much with them, and I’m not thrilled with the ads that are placed. Some of them are irrelevant, and then the few others are often the same on each page. So our profit off those is highly irregular and not that great. It was a great place to start, but I think it’s time to move on.

I am amazed at the amount of “business” stuff I have to do, be involved in and learn about. This whole thing has been one huge learning curve. I’m keeping up, and things are progressing very nicely. We owe that to the support of our readers, who have posted links, joined the fiber frenzy and registered.

Things have been slow this month, but I think that’s primarily due to the season.  Nobody much thinks about knitting and spinning when it’s like the Sahara outside.  Here in Missouri, it’s in the 90s and up.  For many of you that doesn’t seem so bad.  Picture yourself breathing through a sponge and it gets more clear.  It’s so humid that the air feels like mist sometimes.  Hard to breath, and feels so much hotter.  A few summers ago, my neice Rebecca came to visit us from Arizona.  I told her she should stay in from 1 to 3 because it was so hot, and she laughed at me.  (I’m thinking, ok, you’ll see)  Poor kid came in and thought she was dieing.  She couldn’t breathe.  Apparently you grow the gills slowly by living her for many years, because she had a really hard time with breathing.  Humidity does a lot, and it makes this time of year miserable here in the midwest.  There is a tradition here, called “hay beer”.  When you make hay, you bring a load in, then have a beer.  It sounds crazy, but for some reason it really helps you take the heat.  People don’t get drunk, they just drink a beer, then some water, and go on back to the field.  I’m thinking that the alcohol thins the blood so that they can tolerate the heat better.  It’s an interesting phenomenon though, and is an “essential” to many hay makers.

So, I’m chillin in the house, and only venturing out to pet the sheep and give them scratches at night.  I do wet down parts of the lawn for them to lay on, it seems to help.  Poor things.  One of our rams flops over on his side and from a distance he looks dead.  He also plays in the water bowl.  I thought it was odd, that they were going through water so fast.  But then I filled it up today, and went back in a few minutes to take a fleece sample to show a friend, and he was sopping wet.  I guess it cools him off.  Maybe I’ll give him a bath heh heh.

One other funny thing.  We have chickens and the other day one of them was sitting on a lamb, asleep.  I ran for the camera, but of course she jumped off.  Friends don’t let friends poop on friends?  Ah well, missed that one.  I have the best pictures though, I have one of a hen carefully reading a spin off mag.  Need to send them that one, to hilarious.  I also have a picture of the same hen dressed up in a feather boa and a silver “necklace”.  The girls had dressed her up, it was so funny.  Life is just grand, here in the Ozarks…

The fiber frenzy has begun and there are a few questions, so I thought I would answer them here.  If you haven’t heard from all your pals, please let me know right away.

Goodies, this means that you look at the person’s list, see the things they like, and make and go get stuff that they will enjoy.  It’s the fiber grab bag sort of thing.  It can be yarn, fiber, chocolate, gift certificates, whatever.  Surprise them, but do something cool.  It should cost the amount you specified to spend, 20, 40 or 60.

Fiber, pretty easy to figure out.  Pick fiber, check to be sure your pal doesn’t dislike it.  The groups were, 4-6 oz, 6-8 oz, or over 8 oz.  Of course you may always send more.

Hand spun.  All of us signed up for 125 yards or more.  Send something they want, and make sure theirs plenty to make something.  Challenge yourself.   This is about learning something new, and meeting new people.  So take advantage of your pals’ expertise and be sure and drop some extras in like chocolate, tea or a small handmade gift.  Attention my secret pal, a trip to tahiti would be really fab!  oh well, I tried lol.

Next swap, I’m thinking of doing in a few months, is the sock swap.  You will buy enough yarn for a pair of socks for yourself, and so will your pal.  You also need a pattern that fits you.  You send a copy of the pattern and one ball to your pal, and they do the same.  Then you each knit one sock from each pattern/yarn and exchange.  neat huh?  Only knitting one sock would be cool.