And wa-la--a basement appears!!!

Hellooooo from the house on the blocks! ha! Not for long though! We added some fun new items to the website so be sure to check out the two new pages for some cool Seasonal and Holiday Handspun--including cute matching buttons painted by yours truly..... We also added a gifty page that will feature lots of fun items that are great gifts, gift add ons and spinning/knitting related items too! Keep an eye out we are on the move for fall!!

And here are the pictures of our new basement walls! They poured them with about 7 trucks full of cement and the next day already had the forms off. Next comes the plumber, then the house gets set down, then the floor poured, THEN WATER BACK TO THE HOUSE!!!!! Wheee! SO, keep an eye out, we will post pictures as we go.... and life starts to get better! Thank you all again for all the encouraging words--they mean the world! Sheep weekend to you all!

Check out Florida Holly's Sale--two days only so hurry!!

OK everyone, if you have not tried my friend Holly's fiber yet, now's your chance to make a steal--and I am not kidding! She has the most beautiful dyed locks, batts, roving and more--yarn, knit items--and even a batt of the month club--I hear there are five openings (as of last night!) so get your orders in. She will be updating with even more fiber today so keep checking and email your order in so she can email a total back to you. I missed out on a few things I wanted/needed (bwaahahaha) for waiting too long so don't miss out! Her site is HollyEqq

The pictures you see are of her batts, both smooth and 'crazy' geared more to novelty yarn-or just spin it through your carder one more time and wa-la. The yarn pictured was a combined effort--I spun it from Holly's fiber creations--and my own, then we split the yarn. ANother great idea if you have a fiber friend you would love to spin with but are too far apart.....

Also, if you have not signed up for the Lexi Boeger class in Taos (visit my friend Martie at her website for more info) you still may have a chance to get the last few spaces.... Short notice but definitely worth a try--Lexi is the most inspiring spinner ever and a long time friend of the Homestead sheep! Learn to break the rules with Lexi and I hear Jenny Neutron Star is coming along too-- AND if that was not enough, the Taos Wool Festival falls in between Lexi's two classes--now WHO could ask for more??? :0)

I am working on an update to our site this weekend so be sure to stop back- went through gorgeous fleeces yesterday and they are stunning! Some included are colored British Suffolk lamb, NCCheviot cross curlies and more!! Happy fiber day!

Fun pictures!

Want to introduce you to one of my best friends James of Virginia! He is wonderful and you have seen him here and on our spun yarn pages! He only agreed to let me use this picture if we promised no blackmail! bwaahahahaha!

This shawl has quite a story, and a fun one if you ask me-- it started with a ply of yarn spun by James, to which I spun a a ply and we split the plyed yarn. Fun mail believe me!!

THEN, my mom has been knitting up shawls for me while she has her chemo treatments (keeps her busy AND warm in that cold treatment room)--I gave her this yarn and since she had heard how wonderful my friend James and his mom are, she decided this shawl should be for James' mom. It was SO hard for us to keep the secret, and funny how things work out, we got it to James in time for his mom's BIRTHDAY--which we did not know about til after he told us about the timing. More fun! And the best part was the wonderful thank you from mom to mom and from James to my mom. I adore you my friend and thank you for helping me take such good care of our moms!!

New fiber and yarn tomorrow so keep an eye out and have a fibery night!!

Mystery loom parts and web updates!

Ever seen one of these? This is our 'mystery of the week' part that my friend Linda purchased as a box lot at a flea market--along with other spinning and loom parts--and a drum carder!! If you know what this is, let us know!

Meet my friend Jenny's Guanacos! They were a rescue for her, well cared for but papa had a bad attitude--still does! I will be updating the website this weekend with clouds that are dehaired Guanaco fiber from this little three 'person' family. Proceeds go to Jenny and this is a fiber that is hard to get your hands on--I have set aside a teeny bit to try out, but have plenty for the site--keep an eye out!

Check us out on Allison's blog--we got a big time plug for our beaded yarns--thank you Allison! Lots of fun reading on her site so be sure to check it out! We also discovered a new publication named Selvedge-- take a look, I can't wait to get my subscription set up!! Selvedge 'covers fine textiles in every context: fine art, interiors, fashion, travel and shopping, aiming to provide a comprehensive resource for our wide audience of textile enthusiasts. ' Look for us on the supplier link page! Whee!

My log cabin quilt almost reaches my feet now, having so much fun with that free form pattern! It is also keeping me toasty and warm in our cooler fall weather the past few days.

Be sure to check out our update today, LOTS of dyed fiber on the roving/batt page and new yarns galore! More to follow! Happy fiber fall!

Pictures of our castle in the sky!

Hello and here we go on the tour of our little penthouse that is now about 12 feet in the air, supported by a maze of jacks and beams.... All we need is a propeller and maybe we CAN make the Taos Lexi class huh??? bwaahahaha--or maybe my broom? This pictures our little porch addition we completed just about two months ago--was going to be my carding/picking room but now with a new basement, I will be moving my activities there to a spanking fun work room. Will still keep my spinning studio and office upstairs in the front of the house though....


This is the view of our little house from the end of the driveway--lots of fill--we have found some treasures in the old cistern that was hidden beneath the back addition (by the back porch)-- the back room was my laundry room and was at one time many years ago the farm kitchen that sat as a seperate building by the windmill. It was added as an addition to the house in later years.

This is the front door--and a view of the new basement area under the front and center of the house....

This picture was of the front door section of the house (once the porch) before it was up so high in the air and parts of the 'secret' foundations were still there....

And of course, with no more indoor plumbing for who knows how long, we have rented a 'bullseye' outhouse--which is parked indefinitely by the little chicken house.... Yuk! Funny name though huh? :0)

Things here are just beyond nuts, very busy and way more busy than my old self can keep up with some days. I have more fiber dyed up and ready to hit the website, look for them tomorrow and Thursday, along with new yarn selections.

Let's change the topic this morning! ha!

Today I want to introduce you to Amigo--he is a beloved horse that lives with our wonderful neighbors the Calaways (who have been instrumental to our sanity through the whole cave in ordeal!).

Amigo is truly a miracle horse, he is about 8 years old (?) and gave the Calaways much fun as a trail riding horse. Right now Amigo is eating up the green grass in the pasture across from our house and I am constantly amazed to think at Christmas time, he had a broken shoulder that threatened his very existence. He fell on the ice and shattered his scapula bone--it must have smushed the nerves as he was able to get up and down and did not act like he was having large amounts of pain.

Needless to say, the Calaways (and we) were heartbroken, specially after their vet said they should put him to sleep. That is where the Calaways let Amigo start to control his own fate--they had faith in the fact that he was able to move about, made special arrangements inside where he would be warm and cushy on lots of bedding, then they waited it out. Amigo improved and improved--we were astounded that he was able to live, much less look like he does today--if you did not know he had injured himself, you would not even know! He runs, rolls (uphill mind you) and the only time he takes advantage of his 'situation' is when the shoer is out to trim his feet, OR, he sees his Bill (Mr. Calaway) watching him--then he puts on a sad looking limp. He gazes back at me from his pasture across the road all the time, talks to our Monte & Casper with the quiet 'knowledge' that I should be sure in the knowledge that all is and will be well--no matter what our days have brought us to deal with recently.... thank you Amigo.

He is now a pasture pony who will luckily live out his life with his family, mucho loved and adored even though he can no longer be safely ridden..... :0)

Our website is back 'up to speed'!

Ok, first I have to tell a story--about Bobbi our great pyrenes. She watches over one of our sheepy groups with her brother Andrew. You can read more about them on our snapshot pages... Even though we are scrambling around here with our caved in foundation, we did enjoy sleeping on the new enclosed porch my dad and Dennis finished about a month ago--definitely was a saving factor the past week. It was like camping in a little cabin on the 'river Ryan'--haha! Anyway, we slept out there with all 6 inside dogs--they are totally traumatized right now and out of their routine--they are all old except for the Border Collie girls, who enjoy life no matter what--I should take a page from their book!

One night we were sound asleep and at 33o in the morning, the dogs started barking like the bogey man was outside our window. SO, I got up and went out to our 'cute' little portable outhouse and as I was opening the door, I heard a noise that sounded like a goat head butting the gate--they are not up and about at night so was definitely odd! Looked toward the noise and no sheep, but Bobbi--she had the bright orange food bowl that we use in the barn to feed the barn cats. She had it cross wise in her mouth and had tried to sneak back into her assigned pasture with out me seeing her--almost worked except she didn't put that bowl down! She is just possessed by that bowl and will climb fences to get it, then she hides it on us. All said, the look on her face was priceless, caught and wishing she was invisible--and still unwilling to let that bowl go and get back where she belonged--instead, she hopped into the pasture with Casper & Monte and then had no place to go unless we slopped out there and opened the gate--Jim was a very good sport and it was hard to go back to sleep giggling about that silly dog! Andrew was right where he belonged and was looking at me like 'do you BELIEVE that dog?'. Way too funny....

Wanted to add a note about our fleeces that will be showing up on the site this week--we were spared any losses on the fleeces, a few are damp but most were up on the shelves and out of water's way. However, please be assured that we are sorting each fleece by hand and letting any damp fleeces dry in the sun before we offer them for sale. We want no 'stinker' fleeces going out of here so as always being doubly careful.

the other two pictures are of a drop spindle that kept me busy at night when I was busy not sleeping--this one is a favorite, was given to me by my good spinning friend James of VA. I love the fabric he added, makes it quite cheery don't you think? And the other picture is of a blanket I am working on that is for our bed when it gets done--it is 'log cabin' style crazy quilt and I just love it--very easy and is in the book Mason Dixon Knitting if you want to check it out--you probably already have since I am always a few steps behind on the latest stuff! ha! Happy long fibery weekend and more to follow--be sure to see the site, we have lots of new fiber and yarn posted!