Fiber U - Lebanon Missouri

It's been much too long since I've been on here and I've accumulated quite a few things to blog about!

This weekend (july 10-11) We headed out to Fiber U in Lebanon Missouri to vend and see all of our fiber friends. We had a really great time and the festival went well for it's first year. I sent some very nice alpaca fleece from Big River Alpacas off to Ozark Carding Mill to be blended with Milk Protein for a super nice roving while we were there and my husband bought himself a 32 inch Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom. My friend Maggie from Robin Ridge Rabbitry came along and the three of us each put in an entry for the Fancy Kitty Bench Picker that they were giving away with the agreement that if any of us won we would share it and on Sunday when they called a name it was my friend maggie!! So now I have a beautiful new picker sitting on my kitchen table and I've been playing with it since I came home!

I really hate chain hotels and restaurants and the husband knows it, so we try to avoid them when at all possible. Once again he came through and picked a place (one of his official festival duties) for us to stay that I just loved! We headed down to Richland, just a bit down the road from Lebanon to The Cave Restaurant and Resort. We had a nice dinner at the restaurant, which is actually inside of the cave! The food is simple but good, it definitely fills you up and the medium rare steak that I ordered was perfect, just warm in the middle and cooked on the outside exactly like I like it. Then we headed down to our little cabin, which was super convenient, very rustic and absolutely perfect for us :) The Cabins have a full kitchen stocked with utensils, silverwear, dishes, and everything else that you could need plus a full sized stove, sink, fridge, table and chairs, ect. I was so thrilled, we sat out on the porch and watched the sun set, accompanied by the two friendly dogs that live on the property. It was such a great place to stay and so quiet and private. We had such a great time and I woke up totally refreshed and ready to face the second day.

Lastly, on the way home we got a little hungry so we stopped in Rolla for a bite to eat. Our gps led us to check out a little place called A Slice of Pie and though the town had just been hit by a storm that took out the traffic lights and many local businesses power too they were still open and so friendly, we bought two slices to snack on for the drive home and as soon as we started in on them wished that we'd bought a few more. I got the blackberry crumb and Vince got Pecan and both were really really good.

And that's all for today. Next post will be about our trip to Indiana for the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival, I had meant to blog about that quite a while ago but sometimes life gets so crazy!

Look at her go!

This is my daughter, Magdalena, spinning for the first time! I started her out with some nice superwash and she is learning so fast. I credit most of that to my babe, which is heavenly to spin on.

And the Winner is.....

Congratulations to 4dogsmom who won my big birthday fiber gift pack!! I had a ton of fun putting this together and I am sure that she will love it!
On another note cashmere and soysilk have arrived and will be in the shop very soon but if you just can't wait to get your hands on some let me know and I will get you hooked up early.

Just soaking up the baby goodness

Well my little man is home and I am loving it. I'm still a little anxious and he spends the majority of his time in his sling because I can't bear to be away from him but we are all doing well. The kids adjusted to having him much better than I thought and so far there hasn't been any major jealousy or other badness. I am starting to get going dying and carding and spinning again, and I've got a ton of things to post about as I have time so there will probably be more than one in a day sometimes. Anyway, here is a picture of my guy. We named him Cassius.

4th of July Sale

4th of JULY Sale!!

First: All purchases starting today 6/24/09 are going to be entered in a drawing. On July 4th I will draw names for prizes. Prizes will be #1 2oz. of hand painted mulberry silk brick, #2 2 oz of handpainted milk protein roving, #3 4 oz. of handpainted bamboo, #4 Firestar Sampler pack.

Spend $10 or more and get Free shipping from now until the 4th all items 4 oz. and smaller, 50% off shipping to Canada and overseas.

Free gift with any purchase $20 and over.

Name that bunny contest, will soon be posted on the blog, prizes will be angora rabbit wool.

Shop will be updated with a new item (sometimes more) every day, check the shop daily, surprise discounts and new items might appear out of nowhere.

Yarn is buy one get one of equal or lesser value 25% off

punkjordane@earthlink.net
www.fluffingtonfarms.blogspot.com
www.punkjordane.etsy.com

We're Expecting!

Somehow I lost track of time! I woke up this morning and started my day, feeding the kids, getting my coffee, sat down at the computer and saw the date..... Jumped up and ran to the bunny shed. Now on the 23rd I checked both girls and was 99.9% sure that my french girl was not pregnant but I was having a really hard time deciding on my Satin girl. So I put my buck back in with them in thier playspace outside and the French doe was very receptive andhopefully this breeding took. My little satin passion though was not, she grunted and squeeked at him and he left her alone. I had planned on checking again yesterday but somehow got sidetracked so when I realized the date and ran out there I first checked the French, definitly not pregnant (or at least not from the previous breeding) so then I go to check Passion. Passion is usually such a sweet girl, running to the front of the cage for love and treats. I reached my hand in there and she crunched up in the back of the cage, when I tried to feel her tummy she made unfriendly noises at me and almost tried to bite me! So I grabbed her out and sure enough, big hard baby belly, you can feel where her milk is coming in, and she is not feeling very friendly either. Soo I started rushing around setting up the nusery cage, brought her in and right away she started nest building activities! I usually like to bring them in a few days before so that they can get used to the different cage but time just got away from me. I am really excited though! I remembered just in time and should have baby bunnies by tonight! Will post pictures as soon as they're here.

Marshfield

Saturday we went to the Marshfield fiber fair and it was awesome! We had so much fun, I got to see old friend and meet some new ones, I found a few things that I just couldn't live without but I did better this year, actually brought some of the money home instead of spending it all. Very proud of myself for my restraint. It was great though and I am so happy that I decided to go. I am really considering bethel but god, the stress that comes with getting ready for a fiber fair, I don't know if I can do that more than once a year! I have been back to the dye pot a bit today, and have totally fallen in love with milk protein fiber. If you've never tried it before you seriously have to.

Just have to brag

The other day we went to pick up two beautiful French angora does. I am very, very happy with them I had never seen or felt french angora fiber before and was surprised to find that it is silkier than that of my English bunnies. It is also a bit longer, most of it is about 7 in. long, and the best part, on the way home I put one of the girls in my lap and started to spin straight from the bunny and it is actually a bit easier to spin than the angora from my English. I paln on selling 1 oz. on etsy, but the rest I am totally keeping for myself! It's just too good to sell it all. Now I am thinking that when I get my numbers down a bit I may breed one of them and try to get either broken or white babies because wool that long and white would be awesome.

Wonderful Wool

The other day a wonderful woman sold me a little over 20lbs of unprocessed wool for the very low price of $15, It's dirty, and has been sitting forever but it's usable. I am taking pictures as I go, through each stage of processing it, If all goes well this wool is going to be the start of the Handmade with Love project that I am working on, which helps needy families have gloves, hats, and scarves for the winter season. But that's a whole 'nother post. Anyway, this is decent enough wool, not counting that someone kept thier sheep where there where a whole lot of pine trees. I am so excited, I have never processed wool from scratch before so this is a learning experience for me. I just can't wait to start spinning it, I spend the first part of every day now cleaning the house and washing fleece. I can only do small batches at a time because my washer is front loading so I am stuck with the sink but so far all is going well. Waiting for my favorite fiber site to update so I can buy myself some more goodies! AND in a little bit I am going up to walmart to buy a new sewing machine! yes, that's right folks...at 25 I have finally decided to teach myslef to sew....a little embarassing that I don't yet know how but this is the year, no more saying oh, i'll do it sometime, I'm going to go buy it and some patterns and just start sewing! It's funny, I find that the more that I heap upon myself the happier I am. All the bunnies are doing well, Daisy seems depressed about her baby but I can't blame her, so am I. Thinking about breeding Sweetie, not sure if I want to deal with two litters at once...I'll have to think about it for a while.