Tomorrow, April 13, we will host several farms for the Wonderful Woollies Fleece Sale! This is our third annual event & we are looking forward to seeing many of our old & new friends. We have some new farms participating, so here’s the complete list:
Carol Boswell Camelot Ranch Alpacas;
Dawn Deshmane CVM/Romeldale;
Karen Washington Felicity Fibers/Alpaca;
Joanne Martinis Windy Hill Farm Gotlands;
Jeff & Niki Kuklenski JNK Llamas;
Kathy Green Ferndale Fibers, various crosses & fiber;
Rocky Long Little Orchard Farm CVM/Romeldale;
John Park Marietta Shetlands;
Nancy Giordano Nancy’s Farm, various crosses, fiber & fun batts;
Patty Yager alpaca;
Rhonda Wreggelsworth River Ranch Angora goats;
Doug & Yvonne Madsen Spinners Eden Farm CVM/Romeldale;
Allen Berry Spindle Smith carved spindles & tools;
Brigget LeClair Wake Robin Farm, Icelandic.
As you can see, we have a lot of variety this year - hopefully something to please everybody. I know I love to experiment with fleece from different breeds of sheep. Each has it’s unique place & best purpose in the fiber world. Here's one of our fleeces:
As for our farm, we are happy that we got all our fiber back from the processors in time for the sale. A Great Big Thank You to both Creekside Fiber Mill in Lebanon OR, and Fantasy Fibers in Canby OR for their excellent work! We highly recommend both. We have roving from both mills, and some beautiful mill-spun yarn from Creekside available this year. And as a special treat, Spinners Eden collaborated with JNK llamas to create two gorgeous roving blends. One is a combination of our Athena, with JNK’s Sirmione - a great pairing. The other is a CVM/llama/silk blend that is to die for.
I had some moorit yarn spun, and wondered how it would do in the dyepot, so I tried some bright primary colors. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, using Jacquard Acid Dyes in Brilliant Blue and Fire Red, and Dharma Trading’s Acid Dye in Brilliant Yellow. The thing I like about using acid dyes is that the only mordant needed is vinegar. That’s the acid. Not scary at all. :-) Using acid dyes does require some heat. I did the blue yarn in an old Goodwill crock pot that I use only for dyeing, & left it in for a couple of hours to cook, and a couple of hours to cool. (If I had wanted a more uniform color, I would have used a bigger pot with more room for the yarn to move around.)
Back to the fiber sale, we will open at 10 a.m. Early birds pay double. Just kidding. Address is 5740 Mertz Rd., Bellingham WA. We are 1.1 mile east of Hannegan Road on Axton. It’s a straight shot east from downtown Ferndale, & if you get to Shuksan Golf Course, you’ve gone three blocks too far. :-) Hope to see you!
As for our farm, we are happy that we got all our fiber back from the processors in time for the sale. A Great Big Thank You to both Creekside Fiber Mill in Lebanon OR, and Fantasy Fibers in Canby OR for their excellent work! We highly recommend both. We have roving from both mills, and some beautiful mill-spun yarn from Creekside available this year. And as a special treat, Spinners Eden collaborated with JNK llamas to create two gorgeous roving blends. One is a combination of our Athena, with JNK’s Sirmione - a great pairing. The other is a CVM/llama/silk blend that is to die for.
I had some moorit yarn spun, and wondered how it would do in the dyepot, so I tried some bright primary colors. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, using Jacquard Acid Dyes in Brilliant Blue and Fire Red, and Dharma Trading’s Acid Dye in Brilliant Yellow. The thing I like about using acid dyes is that the only mordant needed is vinegar. That’s the acid. Not scary at all. :-) Using acid dyes does require some heat. I did the blue yarn in an old Goodwill crock pot that I use only for dyeing, & left it in for a couple of hours to cook, and a couple of hours to cool. (If I had wanted a more uniform color, I would have used a bigger pot with more room for the yarn to move around.)
Back to the fiber sale, we will open at 10 a.m. Early birds pay double. Just kidding. Address is 5740 Mertz Rd., Bellingham WA. We are 1.1 mile east of Hannegan Road on Axton. It’s a straight shot east from downtown Ferndale, & if you get to Shuksan Golf Course, you’ve gone three blocks too far. :-) Hope to see you!
Hi Yvonne, I attended Wonderful Woolies yesterday and really enjoyed it. It was hard to choose among the beautiful fleeces and rovings, but I finally bought the 2-lb. fleece from Rachel. I neglected to make any notes there and so I just want to make sure my memory is correct. Rachel is a CVM? I keep a journal of my spinning projects because I love trying different breeds of wool. Thank you for putting on this sale, and I do hope it was successful for you and the other dedicated growers.
ReplyDeleteHi Ramona - Thank you so much for coming! We all had a wonderful time. Yes, Rachel is a CVM from our farm. She's a very pretty young lady & we may show her at Black Sheep Gathering this year.
ReplyDeleteYvonne
I took a photo of her--and the rest of the flock--from the barn. Doug said she's the one in the green coat. If you should have a close-up of her, please do post it. I'd love to see her face and put it in my spinning journal. WW was lots of fun--woo-hoo! Looking forward to next year!
ReplyDelete