When Sheep Make Executive Decisions.....

it is a good thing for all of you! ;0)

 

 

The sheep got together and decided we needed to adjust our prices to address the weather related issues we are having on the farm. We have not had rain for weeks and our pastures/hayfields are literally toast! In light of that, the sheep are having a 'rain dance' price reduction on all fiber and yarn (does not include unwashed wool).

The idea of feeding hay so early in the year is not fun- but since we have almost met our FUNdraising goal for sheep coats, we should be able to get them all coated up before they have to have hay. Thank you everyone for your sponsorship of the sheep- you are awesome!  http://www.gofundme.com/coatsforsheep





Hope you will stop on by and have a browse- if you are looking for yarn (we are re-vamping the yarn pages and links are not officially hooked up yet), just scroll down to the site map, you will see the links there. The yarn will be listed by weight i.e. Aran, Bulky, etc... http://www.homesteadwoolandgiftfarm.com/

Hope you are all happily fibering away, and as always, thank you for supporting the sheep- they send you many many fruit loop-ie smooches!

sandyrella



Winding my weekend......into one skein of thought

 Most of you probably know I snuck out to the Midwest Folk and Fiber fest in IL two weekends ago? I had to reflect on that weekend, it was so packed with fun! Fun people, fiber and classes! Where should I start??

I got to spend the weekend with my good friend Ellen- at her Palace Ellen on the lake! It is such a cozy, quiet cottage- I hope to spend some time there with her again very soon- thank you Ellen for putting up with me!

I took 3 classes, 2 with the famous Jacey Boggs! She and I go way back and it was wonderful to meet her in person! She is a wonderful person and great teacher. I learned to corespin, work with beehives AND did NOT learn to spin boucle. Grrr. No fault of Jacey's, just cannot GET it. Need to practice practice and practice some more- right Jacey?

Be sure to check Jacey out- she has a new book coming out this fall along with a new handspinning video. You can find her at http://www.insubordiknit.com/ . She also offers weekend classes all over the USA and the world. If she comes to your area sign on up- you will love her!

I also got to meet friends that the sheep have known for sometime, again, great to see all of you in person! Hugs all around!

I also met Conni Togel of http://www.charisma-art.com/ - I swear she is painting my own sheep and the things they think up. Conni used to have a flock of sheep and had to re-home them. Now they inspire her paintings. Just too cool!

The last class Ellen, Diane and I took was Stefania Isaacson's spinning for socks class. It was awesome and so is she! I have to practice and get the blends right- but am on my way. You can find her at http://www.stefania-spins.com/ !

I learned a lot there, and as you know I can go on and on. (but I will try not to!). Diane taught me to use a support spindle, and made me one to take home. She also suggested I use my wallpaper brush as a burnishing brush for my batts/carder. That is the best tip I have ever had for my carder! Now I am able to card up 10 ounce + batts- even including alpaca! My carder is so great, but it had a bad habit of spitting alpaca all over the room. Not good, but we have that all fixed!

Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday- and thank you again to all the people who made my sneak away weekend so special...

Later today the sheep are going to update the website- hope to see you there! http://www.homesteadwoolandgiftfarm.com/

We are over halfway to coating our entire flock! You guys are awesome! If you'd like more info about our Coats for Sheep FUNdraiser, please have a visit:
 http://www.gofundme.com/coatsforsheep

Smooches from the sheep!

I'm spinnin' from a cloud.....

just a spinnin' from a cloud, what a glorious feeling.... (well, you get the rest!) Have YOU ever spun yarn or felted from a cloud of silky shiny wool? The sheep highly recommend it! ;0)



Sophie washed her beuatiful chocolate/silver Rambouillet fleece, then I ran it through the carder- ta-da- Clouds!



We also send fiber off to http://www.argylefibermill.com/ to be carded into clouds. This our Romney clan wool, blended with alpaca and llama fiber. They use a de-hairing machine (one step short of carding into roving) so almost all of the guard hair is removed.  Soft and easy to spin, felt or?



Clouds pictured above can dye up like this- again, the sheep picked a sultry colorway- must be the cloudy gloomy days we are having here?



This is one of my single ply Crazy Quilt yarn, hand spun from our Crazy Quilt picked fiber. It includes the Leicester Longwool and Sophie fiber, blended with lots and lots of bling and add-ins.



Two ply yarn spun from Sara's Leicester Longwool sheep....





A glorious silky cloud of a fleece- from my friend Sara's Leicester Longwool sheep! I handspun this fiber into 2 ply yarn that is pictured further down the page...



Sophie dyed her fleece a moody, sultry color- the natural chocolate/silver of her fleece will give projects a heathered appearance.... ooh la la!
 All you need to do is decide whether you want to try blending the clouds with other fiber for batts; spin the fiber right out of the bag; felt it or or or ! Just have fun- and remember, if I can do this, ANYone can! Hope you are all enjoying a wonderfully fibery, yarnie weekend! Smooches from the sheep!
(all of the fiber and yarn is available on our website: http://www.homesteadwoolandgiftfarm.com/) If you have any questions please email the sheep any time! ryan3@tds.net



An important note from the Homestead Sheep

It has come to our attention that someone continues to contact our customers, claiming to be my business partner- among other things. This is not the first time we have had to deal with her but the extent of her brazenness has become ridiculous and shameful. I would like to clarify the following:

1)      I do not now, nor have I ever had a business partner (besides my husband and son)

2)      I would NEVER give ANY one your personal information.

3)      I am not divorced.

4)      I am never too busy for my customers- asking her to supply products for you in my place would never, never happen.

5)      We are/were not neighbors.

6)      We do not, never did, never will work together. Period.

7)      We were ‘friends’ many years ago, until the sneaking around behind my back was revealed by our customers, after which I put an end to the ‘friendship’. Over 5 years ago.

8)      Her name is NOT Sandy or Sandy Ryan, but she allows people to think so.

I am sad that this situation continues, but her bitterness is causing the sheep’s customers to wonder what the heck is going on here at our Homestead. If any of you have been or are contacted by her, please let me know asap. I am happy to answer any questions you have about our farm, or claims she is making.

My family and I have spent many years working hard to establish a dependable, honest wool business. Our sheep are our life and they depend on us to only send you gorgeous fiber. Any issues brought to our attention are promptly addressed to avoid misunderstandings or hard feelings about ANY of our products at the Homestead.  

It would be very helpful if you would let us now if this has happened to you in the past or recently- or even after this note! Your information will be kept strictly confidential. If you are comfortable sending us information, please email me at the farm ryan3@tds.net or call me at 608-966-3943.

The sheep and I hope you will continue to be confident in your dealings with the Homestead (and me). We truly appreciate each and every one of you!!

Thank you,

Sandy Ryan and the Homestead Sheep

ryan3@tds.net

www.homesteadwoolandgiftfarm.com

608-966-3943