Special Bowls!

As many of you know from reading my blog I am a potter who loves to spin!  Last Fall I wrote about my trip north to Vermont to visit my friend Kristen and her little piece of heaven, Gilead Fiber Farm.

Kristen works hard at a 9-5 job, comes home and works her second job caring for her animals; Angora and Cashmere goats, Finn and Shetland sheep, Leah the guard llama (Astrid will join her soon),  new piebald bottle babies, the kitties Fred and Ginger and her constant companions pups Max and young Rufus.

She has a loyal group of fans (I am definitely one of those) who follow her ups and downs through her Ravelry group devoted to the Gilead.  We hear about worm and parasite issues, read about her ram's unfortunate forays into the burdock patch, drool over pictures of the fleeces as they grow and see pictures of the lambs, quadruplets this year!

When shearing time comes and Kristen is able to see what her harvest looks like for the year she plans the year's "Harvest Shares."  Rather then a traditional CSA model she waits until she can inspect the quality and quantity of fiber, decides on yummy blends (often she blends her own wool with other breeds found locally to her farm in Vermont) and which will be sold as roving (wool ready to spin) and which will be processed into yarn. Then she announces what her products will be for the season! While we all scarf up the shares online, she drives the fiber to the mill for processing.  And then we patiently (!?) wait!  Good mills are notoriously overbusy.  But the good mills are worth waiting on.

Each year Kristen and I come up with a piece of pottery special to the farm.  The first year I made extra special tumblers.  Remember these?

This year I made these sweet ice cream or snack sized bowls.

The black sheep is in honor of Atlas, born two years ago, and Kristen's first lamb at the farm.  And a black one at that!  (And the wool in the background is some of the luscious roving I received in my share box on Saturday.)

Atlas in the front all grown up!

Because not everyone can afford to buy a share, or might have missed out when they went on sale.....I once again made extra bowls to post in my Etsy shop.  Kristen will get a percentage of each sale, so you are helping her feed these fine animals so they can provide us with more of their yummy wool!

If you are interested, don't wait too long as I would not be surprised to see these snapped up quickly.  And thank you so much for supporting Kristen!

Ah. Vermont!

Where do I start??

I haven't been on a solo trip for YEARS.  Like maybe 20 years.  Greg and I enjoy visiting new places together, and except for easy local visits to family I just haven't done much on my own.  For a long time.  Now with an aging dog with horrible anxiety issues I just never felt ready to tackle it.  But this year I turned 50 and my brothers decided it was time that I did something just for me and they sent me the cash meant ONLY for a train ticket to Vermont. 

"...adventure funds; not clay funds, artist space funds, paint the doghouse funds or Greg's Beer Supply funds!  These are Adventure Funds."

My family knows me well enough that once given the funds earmarked for a trip I would finally make the move and DO IT.  And I had been talking all year about the possiblity of going to Vermont on my own, on the train, to attend the super secret 50th birthday party of my good friend Kristen of Gilead Fiber Farm.  And I would get to see the farm!

And.  I mean.  VERMONT.  IN THE FALL.

So as the birthday plan would go, Kristen would know I was coming.  By staying with her we avoided her making big farm plans that would keep her in her neighborhood while the super secret arrangements were being made.

TWELVE hours on the train.

(I won't whine becuase the idea of driving north on I95 is oh SO MUCH worse.)

But 12 hours is a long time.  The last 2 were killer.

It was rainy when I left DC (there were flash flood warnings the entire time I was gone.)  And still wet and dreary when we went around NY. 

I tried to get some knitting done....

But once we hit Massachusetts the rain had lifted and the colors were just too fantastic.

I arrived in Randolph VT after dark with Kristen (and her loyal dog Max) to meet me and whisk me away to dinner.  (On my brothers.)

I just had so.much.fun.  It was glorious.

Here are pictures. :)

We spent the day out and about (avoiding the neighbor hood to keep the big secret...)

I got alpaca kisses. :)

The party was a total success!  Secrets kept!

Morning chores.  (Actually a mix of days...)

I milked a cow!!  (But not very well!)

Kristen was surprised that the usually reserved llamas came so close.  I think the hay was calling!

Iris the (very vocal!) cashmere goat.

Atlas (on the right) and his mom.

Knitting break!

Ginger

Lotus and Leah, guardian llamas.  This is coyote country....

Yea, that's the spot!  Ecstasy!

Moving huts to the new pasture.  And I didn't just watch and take pictures...I moved one too.

Good Morning All!

Boo

My buddy Fred.

And next post....POTTERY!

All the Pretty Colors!

Last weekend was Maryland Sheep and Wool.  The fiber lovers' version of Woodstock.  But better since it is an annual event!

My plan was to be very controlled.  But the birthday money burning a hole in my pocket (and God help me the bright colors) meant this is what came home with me!

To make the day even better I finally was able to meet up with a couple of friends known only to me via Ravelry!  If you had told me 10 years ago (I originally typed 20 but then realized the internet is really not that old!!) that I would be making such wonderful friends over the internet I would have told you you were crazy.

As if that was not enough, Kristen, second from the right and of Gilead Fiber Farm for whom I made these cups, made an extra trip down to Fredericksburg to hang out and have a dye day!  And until MDSW we had never even met in person.

So dye day.

Kristen, shepherd and dyer extraordinaire....

"Seymour" from Gilead Fiber Farm.  Finn lamb and kid mohair

 My new screen porch turned dye studio!  I was very careful (this time anyway) to keep from dripping dye on the new concrete floor...

The colors are SO much more vibrant then these photos.  But pretty here nonetheless I think.

The above picture and the picture below is a product of the same dye pot.  The wool/mohair blend on the left was a light brown, while the wool/mohair on the right was a natural cream.  Both came from RJ in Oklahoma.

Above and below center is named "Veritek" and is a blend from Gilead.  I think it is coopworth and mohair if I remember correctly.  It was a last minute gift as Kristen left to start her drive north....she left at 2:30 but I was still waiting on my last pot of goodies after dark!

Cormo.

The ironic thing is that I have planned a series of dye workshops for our local fiber guild to be taught by a local University professor for this Summer.

I think I am warmed up and ready!